Photo courtesy CDC
By G. A. McNeeley
May 12, 2026 (California) — Health officials in six states are currently monitoring residents who recently traveled on the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak.
No cases tied to the outbreak have been reported in the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the overall risk for Americans is low, according to USA Today.
The LA Times reported that the CDC is assisting local health authorities with monitoring California residents who were aboard the cruise, according to a statement by the California Department of Public Health on May 8.
As of May 8, one passenger returned to their California residence, and is also in contact with local public health officials, and at least one other remains aboard the ship, according to the state agency.
The LA Times added that in a statement from the CDC, they said that the risk to the American public “is extremely low” at this time.
“We urge all Americans aboard the ship to follow the guidance of health officials as we work to bring you home safely,” they added.
USA Today added the strain at the center of this outbreak has been confirmed as the Andes virus, which the World Heath Organization says is spread from person-to-person. Since the CDC began tracking cases of hantavirus in 1993, there have been less than 900 confirmed infections as of 2023. Since it’s a rodent-borne virus, people who either clean up or work with rodents are at higher risk of exposure.
What Is The Current Situation?
USA Today reported that among those connected to the MV Hondius, a cruise ship run by Netherlands’ Oceanwide Expeditions, eight people have had either suspected or confirmed cases of hantavirus as of May 7, according to the WHO.
CBS News reported that a WHO press conference on May 7, confirmed that at least 12 countries are currently monitoring people who had disembarked the MV Hondius, before any cases of hantavirus were confirmed. Those countries are Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
TIME Magazine added that in response to this development, the CDC has reportedly classified the outbreak as a “Level 3” emergency response, which is the lowest classification, according to ABC News.
USA Today added that health officials in Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Virginia have also confirmed that they’re monitoring residents who recently traveled on board the MV Hondius for hantavirus symptoms, and officials in New Jersey are monitoring two people who weren’t on the ship, but might have been exposed.
An unspecified number of California residents on the ship with other passengers infected with hantavirus, but there isn’t any indication that they’re sick, according to Grant Boyken, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, Arizona and Virginia are monitoring one resident each, while Georgia and Texas are monitoring two residents each.
What Else Should You Know About Hantavirus?
TIME Magazine reported that hantavirus is predominantly spread by contact with the urine, droppings, and saliva of rats or mice, according to the CDC. On rare occasions, it can also spread through scratches or bites from rodents.
Patch reported that Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, UC San Francisco infectious diseases specialist, told the San Francisco Chronicle, that “people shouldn’t worry about this kind of hantavirus, which is more localized to South America, particularly the southern part of Chile and Argentina.”
While human-to-human transmission is possible with the Andes strain, it requires prolonged physical contact and doesn’t spread as easily as COVID or the flu. Dr. Chin-Hong noted that there has been one other documented outbreak of human-to-human hantavirus transmission, which involved the Andes strain in Argentina.
Patch added that hantavirus has a high mortality rate, up to 40 percent, potentially leading to respiratory failure and requiring specialized care like an ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) machine, according to the WHO. Although human hantavirus infection is rare in California, with only about three cases reported annually, it can be life-threatening, according to state public health data.
How Do The Experts Believe This Situation Started?
CBS News reported that three people who were on the cruise have died, including a couple from the Netherlands and a separate woman from Germany, according to the WHO. Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed that the husband died on the cruise ship on April 11, and that 30 guests disembarked the Hondius on Saint Helena on April 24, who then returned on their own to their countries of origin.
Oceanwide Expeditions added that the wife was one of the 30 guests who disembarked from the cruise ship. The WHO confirmed that her health worsened on a flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg on April 25. She briefly boarded a KLM passenger flight in Johannesburg, but the airline said she wasn’t allowed to fly due to her medical condition. She died in South Africa the next day after not being allowed to fly home, according to the WHO.
CBS News added that health officials confirmed that her blood tested positive for hantavirus. KLM said it was notified of the test results on May 5, and was notifying everyone on the flight that the woman had boarded.
South African authorities said on May 6, that the strain of hantavirus identified in her blood (as well as a British man who was hospitalized in their country) is the Andes strain.
CBS News reported that there are also three asymptomatic individuals being monitored in Canada. Two of them departed the cruise ship in Saint Helena, and the other was on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in South Africa, according to Canada’s minister of health and minister of foreign affairs.
The WHO said that one person who disembarked in Saint Helena was tested in Switzerland for the disease, and they tested positive for the Andes strain. They also reported that another Dutch passenger and a British crew member are being treated in the Netherlands and are both stable, and that a German passenger was asymptomatic and returned to Germany.
Where Has This Cruise Ship Been Sent?
TIME Magazine reported that after three passengers (British, Dutch and German) suspected to have hantavirus were evacuated from the vessel in Cape Verde on May 5, the cruise ship has continued on its scheduled journey to the Canary Islands, and they received the remaining passengers and crew onboard the MV Hondius on May 10.
Virginia Barcones, Spain’s head of emergency services, said on May 7, that “they will arrive at a completely isolated, cordoned-off area. They will board vehicles that are isolated and under guard, and will proceed to a section of the airport that will be completely cordoned off.”
TIME Magazine added that Barcones clarified that the residents of the Canary Islands “can rest assured that there will be absolutely no possibility of contact” with passengers from the cruise ship. She also said on May 8, that Spain will “guarantee total safety” in the repatriation efforts for all 23 nationalities represented by the passengers and crew of the ship.
The UK Health Security Agency said that it will have personnel on the ground, and that “British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus will be escorted by U.K. Government staff to an airport and given free passage back to the U.K.”
What Have The Experts Been Saying?
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said at a press conference on May 7, that “in previous outbreaks of Andes virus, transmission between people has been associated with close and prolonged contact, particularly among household members, intimate partners and people providing medical care,” according to CBS News. “That appears to be the case in the current situation.”
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic management, said at a briefing, that “I want to be unequivocal here: This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” according to The LA Times. “This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There’s a confined area. This is not the same situation we were in six years ago. It doesn’t spread the same way like coronaviruses do.”
Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical correspondent, said that “the pandemic risk from this outbreak is low,” according to CBS News. “Hantavirus does not spread the way flu or COVID does. But this is exactly the kind of event that tests whether global health systems work.”
Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, said “we understand that news of an unusual outbreak can be concerning,” according to The LA Times. “Unlike influenza and COVID-19, years of experience in South America have shown that this Andes hantavirus rarely spreads between people.”
Sources:
https://x.com/CDCgov/status/2052188048520032692?s=20
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