THE Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is advising its member states and the public that the risk of infection of hantavirus is low in the Caribbean region.

On May 2, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was notified by the Focal Point of the United Kingdom's International Health Regulations (2005) of a cluster of respiratory illness affecting passengers and crew on a cruise ship in the Central Atlantic Ocean, with laboratory confirmation of hantavirus in one critically ill patient, CARPHA said in a release from its Port of Spain office yesterday.

CARPHA was alerted to this development on May 3 through its Information Environment and Monitoring platform. As of May 6, the WHO reported eight cases-three confirmed and five suspected, as well as three deaths.