2 N.J. residents potentially exposed to hantavirus, health officials say. Here's what we know.

Two New Jersey residents were potentially exposed to a person infected with hantavirus, according to health officials. 

The New Jersey Department of Health said it was notified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the two New Jersey residents were potentially exposed after the infected person left the cruise ship MV Hondius. 

The two Garden State residents were not on the cruise ship, but may have been exposed while flying abroad. Neither has any symptoms, but both are being monitored as a precaution. 

"There are no confirmed cases of hantavirus in New Jersey. We will continue to keep residents informed as the situation develops," Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement on social media. 

Sherrill and state health officials said the risk to the general public is very low in New Jersey. 

Hantavirus in the U.S. is caried by rodents and doesn't spread from person to person. The strain involved in the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, the Andes virus, is capable of person to person transmission, though it is considered rare and requires prolonged close contact with someone who has been infected, or with their bodily fluids. Incubation can take anywhere from four days to more than a month, and people who have no symptoms are not considered infectious. 

Health officials in five other U.S. states are monitoring passengers who were on board the ship before the any cases of hantavirus were confirmed. Those states are Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Arizona and California. So far, none have exhibited any signs of illness. 

Worldwide, there have been nine confirmed or suspected cases and three deaths that have been linked to cruise ship. 

Click here for more information about the hantavirus from the CDC.