Responding to growing public worries about the Andes hantavirus outbreak that developed on a cruise ship in April and has so far killed three people, the Chinese Medical Association's Society of Infectious Diseases presented an online forum on Monday to inform people about the risks of the virus and to suggest containment strategies for doctors and the public.

The live forum, which drew more than 2,500 participants and around 11,000 views, featured leading experts in infectious diseases from across the country.

He Yingli, a professor at First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, said that unlike the hantavirus strains in Asia and Europe — which can affect the blood vessels, cause bleeding problems and damage the kidneys — the Andes hantavirus can lead to problems with the heart and lungs, with a fatality rate as high as 35 to 50 percent.

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It is the only known hantavirus whose human-to-human transmission after prolonged close contact is limited, He said. Its natural host, the long-tailed pygmy mouse, does not live in China, making large-scale transmission in the country unlikely.

Zhang Wenhong, a leading infectious disease expert and professor at Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, drew parallels with past outbreaks of SARS and COVID-19. He said that while some elements of those epidemics may seem to parallel the prospects of the Andes hantavirus, their underlying characteristics differ.

"For example, transmission of the hantavirus without symptoms is unlikely, and sustained human-to-human spread remains low", Zhang said.

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"The key to subsequent prevention and control is to monitor whether secondary cases emerge. This is the gold standard for assessing whether a virus can achieve sustained human-to-human transmission."

Experts have urged rapid clinical identification using a simple diagnostic observation — fever, protein in the urine and an abnormally low level of platelets in the blood that help it clot to repair damage. The combination is rarely seen in other diseases, Zhang said.

Forum experts also called for immediate hospitalization in an intensive care unit, as well as the use of ECMO in severe cases — an advanced form of life support used when a person's lungs, heart or both are failing and ordinary treatment is not enough.

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Early recognition and timely intervention are critical to reducing mortality, they said.

The recent cruise ship outbreak appears to have begun shortly after the MV Hondius, flagged in the Netherlands, departed on April 1 from Ushuaia, a city at the extreme southern tip of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego province, for an Antarctic excursion.

The first passenger reportedly developed symptoms around April 6 while the ship was in the South Atlantic or Antarctic phase of the voyage.

Health authorities believe the initial exposure likely occurred before passengers boarded, probably in Argentina or nearby Patagonia, where the Andes strain of hantavirus is endemic.