(NEW YORK) -- Health experts tell ABC News that the current science behind the hantavirus that circulated throughout the MV Hondius does not show the same levels of transmission as with COVID-19, while acknowledging that the scenario may seem similar to the beginning of the 2020 pandemic.

"Our current understanding is that person-to-person transmission of Andes virus is relatively rare and generally associated with prolonged close contact," the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health assessment said. "There is also no documented evidence of presymptomatic transmission."

Officials around the globe have taken major steps to prevent the spread of the hantavirus, and an American doctor who was onboard noted how conditions on the cruise ship may have helped the virus propagate.

In the U.S., the boat's 18 American passengers have been put in quarantine in Nebraska, while more than 40 people with exposure to the sick are being monitored to see if they develop the illness.

"In the vast majority of cases it happens when people breathe in mouse secretions," Dr. Emily Abdoler, a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, who specializes in infectious diseases, told ABC News.

"The Andes strain found in Chile and Argentina has the possibility of human-to-human transmission, but that's really more really close contact. It's not sharing the same household," she added. "It's more like sharing the same bed."

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, an American oncologist who became the ship's de facto doctor after the Hondius' physician contracted the virus, initially received inconclusive results with samples taken from the ship but later tested negative.

Speaking to ABC News from his quarantine on Thursday, Kornfeld noted that conditions on the ship -- including ventilation and the size of rooms -- could have created a "complicated" situation for transmission while observing some social casual contact.

"If you do have casual contact, you're doing it repetitively," he said. "There were three rooms that we would gather in many times a day, often for an hour or an hour and a half, for lectures and discussions and meals. And I can just envision lots of frequent casual contacts, and perhaps over time that adds up to something more than just a single casual contact."

Abdoler, who helped diagnose a case of hantavirus in Michigan in 2021 -- the type we have in the U.S. that does not spread between people --said the benefit that medical professionals and agencies, such as the World Health Organization, have now is that the hantavirus has been researched for over 30 years. It is not a new virus. 

While the data around the Andes strain believed to have been on the boat is still limited given the rare number of cases outside of South America, Abdoler said there does not appear to be any indication that the transmission methods have changed for the Andes strain. 

ABC News medical contributor and epidemiologist Dr. John Brownstein concurred, saying that previous research suggests the hantavirus is a respiratory illness. That means germs can be coughed up, he noted, but it is not an aerosol-based virus.

"It's not like COVID or measles where it could linger in the air for some time," he said.

Brownstein added that the incubation period for the virus is long, and despite the lower risk for person-to-person transmission, it is critical that health officials stick to their policies to isolate and monitor anyone connected to the Hondius. Isolation can then be initiated if they become a positive case. 

 "Incubation can be anywhere from one to eight weeks," he noted.

During a news briefing Friday, WHO officials stressed that said there is no evidence so far that the virus has changed to become more transmissible or more severe.

Officials said transmission is believed to be based on several factors, including how infectious the patient is, the environment and whether protection and PPE was used.

On Friday, acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Jay Bhattacharya told reporters no cases of hantavirus have been reported in the U.S.

There are now at least 10 cases that have been linked to the ship's outbreak. Two passengers died from the virus and a third death has been deemed probable by WHO.

Sixteen Hondius passengers, including Kornfeld, initially were flown to the quarantine center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and had not shown any symptoms as of early Friday. Kornfeld had been placed in a biocontainment unit at the facility.

Two other American passengers were flown to Atlanta for "assessment and care," according to officials. They were later transferred to the quarantine unit in Nebraska on Friday.

The remainder of the passengers are in quarantine at home and are being monitored.

WHO warned more positive cases could still appear during quarantine because the virus' incubation period is long, but said that would not necessarily mean the outbreak is growing.

Abdoler noted that the fact that there have not been as many positive cases from the ship and their contacts shows that the data about the Andes transmission is holding up and there are no signs that the virus can spread as easily as other pathogens.

She noted that he is glad that the risk is being taken seriously and that those that have been exposed are being monitored. 

"My sense is that there is no really need to panic, but [WHO] is taking a very conservative approach to the outbreak and asking everyone to isolate during the intubation period," she said.

"I think it is good they are taking a conservative approach because there are unknowns, but I am not personally altering my personal practices of travel or how I go out," she added.

- ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.

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(MALDIVES) Five Italian nationals, including a mother and her daughter, died while scuba diving in a deep underwater cave in the Maldives, according to Italian and Maldivian officials, as a risky search effort attempts to recover the remaining missing divers.

The divers went missing Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

The body of one of the divers has since been recovered in a cave about 200 feet deep, authorities said. The remaining four divers are believed to be inside the 200-foot-long cave, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

Additional divers and special equipment were being sent to the area Friday for the "very dangerous, high-risk operation," it said. The search was suspended Friday due to bad weather and the recovery operation is expected to resume on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef extended his "deepest condolences" to the people of Italy following the "tragic diving incident" in a statement on Friday. He said the search for the four remaining divers "remains our highest priority."

Italy's Foreign Ministry said the five Italian nationals died in a scuba diving accident. They were reported to have died "while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 meters," it said.

"The reconstruction of the incident is still underway by the Maldivian authorities," the ministry said.

The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa (UniGe) identified the deceased divers as Monica Montefalcone, a marine scientist and associate professor at UniGe; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a UniGe biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a UniGe research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieril, a recent UniGe graduate in marine biology and ecology.

The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

Montefalcone had won multiple awards for her work to study and protect the marine environment, the institute said.

The Italian ambassador from the embassy in Colombo arrived in the Maldives on Friday to meet with Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard officials, the ministry said.

The Italian Embassy in Colombo is in contact with the victims' families and is providing assistance to 20 other Italian nationals aboard the Duke of Yoke who participated in the expedition, the ministry said.

"The vessel is awaiting an improvement in weather conditions in order to return to Malé," the ministry said Friday.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Classic albums by Joni Mitchell, Dusty Springfield and Cher are the latest to get an audio upgrade as part of Rhino’s High Fidelity audiophile series.

The reissues include Mitchell’s album Court and Spark, Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis and Cher’s 3614 Jackson Highway.

Originally released in 1974, Court and Spark was Mitchell's biggest commercial hit, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Albums chart, thanks in part to her highest-charting single, "Help Me." Meanwhile, 1969's Dusty in Memphis, a fusion of pop and R&B, would go on to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry. Cher's 3614 Jackson Highway had the superstar covering several well known songs, and while it wasn't a commercial hit when it was released in 1969, it did receive positive reviews from critics.

All three reissues have been cut from the original master tapes and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl. Each are limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies.

All are available now at Rhino.com.

These albums are just the latest in a string of releases that have been part of the Rhino High Fidelity audiophile series. Others include Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna, The Cars' 1978 self-titled debut, INXS’ Kick, The Velvet Underground’s Loaded and The Stooges’ Fun House.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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