ARIZONA — Health officials around the world are monitoring a hantavirus outbreak linked to a Dutch-flagged cruise ship that has resulted in nine confirmed or suspected cases, including three deaths. Swiss authorities are tracing contacts of a Swiss man who disembarked from the ship and returned home while infected with a strain of hantavirus capable of human-to-human transmission.

"Hantavirus is not spread by people without symptoms, transmission requires close contact, and the risk to the American public is very low," said Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ann Lindstrand, the World Health Organization representative in Cape Verde, said, "There was no risk of a pandemic-level threat given the low likelihood of human-to-human transmission."

Photojournalist Gilbert Zermeño contracted hantavirus in 2002 after cleaning his family's house in Texas following the deaths of his mother and sister. He was exposed to rodent droppings that led to his infection and spent several days in a Phoenix hospital for treatment.

Zermeño said his mother and sister were initially misdiagnosed as having sepsis but were later determined to have died of hantavirus. He said the rarity of the illness complicated his own diagnosis and treatment, but with help from family members in the medical community he obtained a proper diagnosis.

"It takes you back, and it's no less painful now than it was back then. It's hard. I'm not going to lie," Zermeño said of the current outbreak.

He said online misinformation about hantavirus has panicked some members of the public because of the word "virus." He urged the public to consult medical professionals and prepare for the possibility of exposure.

"Listen to your medical professionals and have a plan in the event that you do feel that you were exposed to the hantavirus or to someone who had hantavirus. The likelihood of you catching it from a person-to-person is minuscule," he said.