Post by @kakape@mas.to

2026-05-05 17:21 UTC

But, given everything we know, human-to-human spread certainly seems a likely scenario. And as @marionkoopmans told me: If there is one place where a virus that is not very transmissible, might be able to spread, it's probably a cruise ship.

Replies (2)

@kakape@mas.to 2026-05-05 17:21

I think this is really important: People often seem to assume a pathogen can either spread efficiently or not, like some on/off switch. But that's not really how it works. Many pathogens are shitty at spreading except under certain circumstances. This may turn out to be a case of such circumstances.

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@MNSpy@mastodon.online 2026-05-05 17:44

@kakape @marionkoopmans I will be interested to see what the outbreak investigation reveals. Were the infected individuals clustered together in nearby cabins? Were those infected in rooms with shared ventilation systems? My suspicion is the investigation will document a significant rodent infestation on the ship and all those infected were exposed to rodent feces (perhaps contaminating the ventilation system of the boat.) Looking forward to hearing more.

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