Topline
A 32-year-old woman who shared an airplane with a MV Hondius cruise ship passenger who later died of hantavirus is now showing symptoms consistent with the disease, Spanish authorities said Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed and suspected cases to nine.
This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 4, 2026.
AFP via Getty Images
Timeline
Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla tells reporters the woman, who is in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante, is being tested for the virus after she was a passenger on the same flight as a patient who later died in Johannesburg.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo says the MV Hondius will not be allowed to dock when it arrives in Tenerife on Saturday and will instead anchor off shore, where passengers will be taken to land via small boat only when their evacuation plane is already on the tarmac. Nobody still on the ship is showing symptoms as of Friday, per WHO officials.
U.K. health authorities identify a new suspected case of hantavirus linked to the cruise ship outbreak—a British man on the remote South Atlantic island Tristan da Cunha.
The World Health Organization confirms that a KLM flight attendant, who was isolating in an Amsterdam hospital with mild symptoms after being in brief contact with a hantavirus patient, has tested negative for the virus, supporting WHO experts’ assertion that it can only bey transmitted person-to-person through prolonged, close contact.
President Donald Trump tells reporters the hantavirus outbreak is “very much” under control and “it should be fine,” adding, when asked if Americans should be worried, “I hope not… We’ll do the best we can.”
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, says the United States is “not prepared” to handle a hantavirus outbreak after Trump-era cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID, as well as the country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
Doctors speak up to dispute a viral online claim that ivermectin, an FDA-approved parasitic most commonly used as a dewormer for livestock, could be used to treat hantavirus.
Oceanwide Expeditions, operator of the cruise ship MV Hondius, says at least 29 living passengers from 12 countries disembarked the ship and went home after the death of the first passenger on board (before officials knew of the outbreak). Those countries are Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
Texas health officials have said they are tracking two residents—who are not showing symptoms—who were passengers on the MV Hondius, the cruise ship connected to the cases.
Health officials in California are monitoring an undisclosed number of residents who were aboard the MV Hondius and have said there is no information that those being monitored are ill or infected, according to The New York Times, which noted Arizona and Georgia health officials are also monitoring a total of three residents who were aboard the ship and are all still in good health.
Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, director of WHO, says some of those passengers shared an airplane to Johannesburg with a woman from the ship who later died.
Ghebreyesus says none of the remaining passengers or crew aboard the MV Hondius are symptomatic, but that “it is possible more cases will be reported” because it can be up to six weeks before those infected with the Andes variant of hantavirus show symptoms. He insisted the public health risk remains “low.”
A Dutch flight attendant who has developed mild symptoms is being tested for the disease after she briefly came into contact with one of the deceased hantavirus patients.
An international team of scientists is working to create a vaccine against hantavirus, the BBC reported.
The CDC reportedly tells employees Luis Rodríguez, the American official responsible for public health on cruise ships, is retiring. There is no word on who will replace him.
WHO epidemic expert Maria Van Kerkhove tells reporters, “This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease. Most people will never be exposed to this.”
The World Health Organization confirms the number of lab-proven hantavirus cases has risen to five and there are still at least three additional suspected cases among cruise ship passengers and crew.
Argentine officials suggested the hantavirus outbreak could have originated from a bird-watching outing that took the deceased Dutch couple to a landfill, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the virus before boarding the ship, the Associated Press reported.
Health officials confirm the deadly hantavirus outbreak is of a particular disease strain called Andes, one of the deadliest variants of the hantavirus and the only known strain that transmits from person to person.
Spanish health minister Monica Garcia says the MV Hondius is en route to the Granadilla port in Tenerife, Canary Islands, where passengers will be allowed to leave the ship by May 11. Spanish citizens will be quarantined, and people from other countries will be sent home.
Three people in need of medical care, including two in “serious” condition, are evacuated from the MV Hondius and flown to the Netherlands by an air ambulance.
A man who traveled on an earlier leg of the ship’s trip before flying home to Switzerland is hospitalized in Zurich with a strain of the hantavirus. It is the first case stemming from the MV Hondius in which a patient got sick after his return to the mainland, and authorities say they are working to contact trace any possible spread of the illness.
The South African Department of Health says tests performed on infected passengers of the the MV Hondius confirm the Andes virus, one of the deadliest hantavirus diseases with a roughly 40% case fatality rate, is what infected passengers onboard the ship.
The World Health Organization confirms a strain of hantavirus is spreading aboard the ship, with two lab-confirmed cases and five more suspected cases.
Cape Verdean authorities refuse to allow the MV Hondius to dock at the port of Praia, a decision they said is to protect public health.
A German national dies aboard the MV Hondius.
A British passenger is medically evacuated to South Africa from the ship, and is treated in an intensive care unit in Johannesburg. He is confirmed to have a variant of hantavirus.
The wife of the first victim dies in Johannesburg after collapsing at an airport in South Africa. She was confirmed to have had a variant of the hantavirus.
A 70-year-old Dutch man dies on board the MV Hondius and, nearly two weeks later, his body is taken off the ship., with his cause of death still under investigation, according to the New York Times.
The MV Hondius leaves Ushuaia, Argentina.
Crucial Quote
“It’s been quite a mammoth effort,” professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency, said of contact tracing the ship’s passengers. “We will continue to do that if other information arises.”
Where Is The Mv Hondius?
As of Friday morning, the ship is off the coast of Morocco cruising en route to the Canary Islands. Passengers are isolating in their cabins and teams of doctors, surgeons, nurses and laboratory specialists in protective gear are aboard the ship.
Big Number
Almost 150. That’s how many people are stuck onboard the Mv Hondius. That total counts people from across 23 countries, including 17 Americans.
Who Are The Hantavirus Patients?
- Suspected case: A 70-year-old Dutch man died aboard the MV Hondius on April 11. Because hantavirus was not suspected at the time of his death, no test samples were taken, but he is now believed to be the first hantavirus case on the ship.
- Confirmed case: The man’s 69-year-old wife died shortly after departing the ship with his body. Her blood later tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus.
- Suspected case: A German woman died aboard the ship on May 2. Her body is still on board and has not yet been tested for the disease, but officials suspect she died of hantavirus.
- Confirmed case: A British expedition guide was medically evacuated to South Africa after presenting to the ship’s doctor with symptoms. He remains in critical condition, though health officials say he is improving, and tests confirmed he had contracted the Andes virus.
- Confirmed case: A Dutch passenger was evacuated from the ship Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive medical care.
- Confirmed case: A British passenger was evacuated from the ship Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive medical care.
- Confirmed case: A Swiss man who disembarked the ship at a stop in Saint Helena tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus after returning home and is receiving medical care in Zurich.
- Suspected case: A British man on the remote South Atlantic island Tristan da Cunha is suspected to have hantavirus in connection with the cruise, British authorities said Friday.
- Suspected case: A woman in Spain is being tested for hantavirus after she shared a plane with someone with the illness.
- Tested negative: A KLM flight attendant who contracted symptoms after a brief interaction with the now-deseased Dutch woman tested negative for hantavirus, officials said Friday.
Key Background
The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa, visiting some of the world’s most remote islands along the way. The ship made stops in Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena (where the Dutch man’s body was taken from the ship) and Ascension Island, where the British man was medically evacuated. The ship then sailed for the port of Praia in Cape Verde, but was denied permission to dock.
Tangent
A passenger who was aboard the MV Hondius before disembarking several weeks into the journey told the BBC the operator of the cruise ship “didn’t inform us about any potential viruses” after the death of the ship’s first passenger amid the outbreak. Ruhi Cenet, a Turkish Youtuber, told the agency he is “very unhappy” with how the outbreak was handled and that despite being onboard for almost two weeks after the man’s death, passengers were told the man was “not infections” and, therefore, the remaining passengers took no health and safety precautions. “We were together in the lecture rooms. We were all together during breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m talking about over 100 passengers. People were socializing, they were sitting side by side,” Cenet said of life onboard ship. The ship’s operator has said it could not have informed passengers of the disease any sooner because they did not know what killed him and believed his death to be an isolated incident.
What Is The Andes Hantavirus?
Andes is the only hantavirus strain known to be transmitted person to person. People typically get hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice—normally when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva, or sometimes through a bite or scratch—but officials say no rodents have been found on the MV Hondius ship. Andes is found in South America, specifically Argentina and Chile, and person-to-person transmission has been associated only with close and prolonged contact during the early phase of illness, when the virus is more transmissible. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says symptoms of hantavirus usually emerge within a week or two, but can take up to eight weeks in some cases. The agency insists there is a “low” risk to the wider population and agency information shows transmission of the Andes virus is very low when appropriate infection prevention and control measures are taken.
What Are The Symptoms Of Hantavirus?
Hantaviruses cause two syndromes: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, mostly found in the Western Hemisphere, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, found mostly in Europe and Asia. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome causes fatigue, fever, muscle aches, abdominal problems, headaches, chills and dizziness in the early stages, and late symptoms include chest tightness, coughing, shortness of breath and lungs filling with fluid. Of those who develop respiratory symptoms, the mortality rate is 38%. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome affects the kidneys and causes a wide range of symptoms, including blurred vision, low blood pressure, acute shock, internal bleeding and kidney failure. The severity of the disease varies on the strain of hantavirus, and mortality rates range from less than 1% to 15%.
How Is Hantavirus Treated?
There is no specific treatment for hantavirus infections and patients usually receive supportive care like supplemental oxygen for respiratory issues and dialysis in the case of kidney failure.
Surprising Fact
Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, died in February 2025 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. She was 65.