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Recent coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald highlighted the public health risks associated with rodent-borne viruses such as hantavirus, following a fatal outbreak linked to a cruise ship. In the article, Dr Renata Muylaert (Disease Ecology Lab) emphasised that prevention begins with reducing human exposure by limiting contact with reservoir hosts—particularly wild rodents in South America, where the cruise ship departed—through improved hygiene, secure food storage, and avoiding exposure to aerosolised rodent excreta.
This perspective reflects the lab’s broader One Health approach, where disease risk is understood as an emergent property of interactions between humans, animals, and their environments.
The full article can be read here: