PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) on Monday sought to reassure people in the Caribbean region that there is no need for panic in light of the recent outbreak of the hantavirus that has claimed several lives.

CARPHA executive director, Dr Lisa Indar, told a news conference that the rodents that carry the human to human Adean strain of the hantavirus, are not present in the Caribbean.

Hantavirus is a serious zoonotic disease transmitted to humans through contact with the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents, particularly mice and rats. Infection may occur when contaminated particles from rodent nesting materials become airborne and are subsequently inhaled by humans.