SINGAPORE: The risk of a hantavirus outbreak in Singapore remains low, with experts stressing that the country is well equipped to deal with any potential cases, even as two residents who were on board a virus-hit cruise ship are being monitored.

The two Singapore residents who were on board the MV Hondius are currently isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday (May 7).

Both men are well, with one experiencing a runny nose and the other asymptomatic, while they await test results.

Experts told CNA that the likelihood of the virus spreading in Singapore is minimal, given the nature of hantavirus transmission and Singapore’s strong public health response.

"I do not think that the general public should be concerned at all," said Professor Paul Tambyah, deputy chair of the infectious diseases translational research programme at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

The virus is not efficiently spread between humans and is typically most contagious only when symptoms such as fever develop, he noted.

"So it is unlikely that these two largely asymptomatic individuals would spark off outbreaks in Singapore," Prof Tambyah added. 

"This risk is reduced significantly by the fact that they are isolated during the incubation period, so they are less likely to spread the virus to anyone if they become febrile later on."

Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers.

Only a few strains are known to cause human disease, including the Andes hantavirus found in several cases on the MV Hondius.

Transmission to humans happens when people breathe in dust contaminated with urine, droppings or saliva from infected rodents, especially when cleaning or disturbing areas with rodent activity, CDA said.

Professor Hsu Li Yang, director of the Asia Centre for Health Security at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, similarly described the public health risk in S...