Infectious disease specialist Dr. David Nguyen said he received alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the city of Chicago about the hantavirus cases.
At Rush University Medical Center, Nguyen said, they are prepared to assist if needed. But at the time, he said, it is unlikely for someone outside of the cruise ship contacts to become ill.
"The risk for most people in the United States and especially Chicago seems really low at this time unless you had contact with one of these people that were on the cruise," Nguyen said.
A statement from the Illinois Department of Public Health reads, in part, "While the risk to Illinois communities is currently very low, IDPH is coordinating closely with health care providers, local public health departments, and emergency management partners."
Nguyen explained that there are different strains of hantavirus, and while there is hantavirus in the U.S., he has never seen a case in Chicago.
"The specific origin seems to be where some of these people on the cruise had been in Argentina. That's suspected right now. But unless you were in this specific cruise ship, I don't think you have to worry about cruise ships in general," Nguyen said.
The nature of the strain found in some of the cruise ship passengers is that it can spread from person to person, not only from rodent to human. And while the COVID-19 pandemic was not that long ago, health leaders stress that this is a different situation.
"I do not think we should be worried about a COVID-style outbreak or influenza-like outbreak. This virus transmits very slowly from person to person, with very few people picking it up," said Northwestern Medicine Infectious Disease Dr. Michael Angarone.
At this point, there are no known cases of hantavirus in the Chicago area, and local health officials hope it stays that way.