CDC says hantavirus outbreak tied to cruise ship M/V Hondius was first reported May 2

CDC said on May 19 that the hantavirus outbreak tied to the cruise ship M/V Hondius was first reported on May 2 and remains under active monitoring. The agency said the outbreak involves Andes virus, a type of hantavirus that can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory disease. (cdc.gov) CDC also said no U.S. cases linked to the outbreak had been confirmed as of that update, and that the risk to the American public and travelers remained extremely low. (cdc.gov) WHO said on May 8 that the ship carried 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries and that international contact tracing was underway through national health authorities. (cdc.gov) The multinational footprint has made the response a cross-border exercise involving U.S., European and other public-health agencies. ### When did officials first learn about the outbreak? CDC’s Health Alert Network advisory said the World Health Organization was notified on May 2, 2026, of a cluster of severe acute respiratory illness among passengers and crew aboard the ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (cdc.gov) WHO said that initial cluster included two deaths and one critically ill passenger whose tests confirmed hantavirus. WHO confirmed on May 6 that the virus involved was Andes virus, according to the CDC advisory. WHO’s outbreak notice said the notification came from the United Kingdom’s National IHR Focal Point. (cdc.gov) That notice said the ship was Dutch-flagged and that the event was being handled through the International Health Regulations system used for cross-border public-health reporting. ### Why are health officials focused on Andes virus in particular? CDC said Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus known to spread from person to person, though it does not spread easily. The agency said symptoms can appear from 4 to 42 days after exposure, which is why exposed passengers are being monitored for an extended period. (cdc.gov) CDC also said people are typically infectious only while they have symptoms. Reuters reported on May 19 that WHO guidance describing a long incubation window for Andes virus was based on established science, not a new claim developed during this outbreak. (who.int) That matters because social media posts had cast the timing as suspicious, while public-health guidance from CDC and WHO matches longstanding medical understanding of the virus. ### What has happened to passengers tied to the ship? CDC said it repatriated 18 passengers who remained on the cruise ship on May 10. Those passengers are being assessed and monitored at the Nebraska Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, while seven passengers who returned earlier are being monitored at home by state and local health authorities, according to the agency. (cdc.gov) The CDC newsroom said on May 8 that a U.S. government medical repatriation flight was planned to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and that CDC teams were deployed both to the Canary Islands and to Nebraska to support exposure assessments and follow-up. (cdc.gov) ### How broad is the outbreak so far? WHO said that as of May 8 a total of eight cases had been reported, including three deaths, and six of those cases had been laboratory-confirmed as Andes virus. Four patients were hospitalized at that point in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, WHO said. (cdc.gov) CDC’s May 19 situation page said the outbreak was evolving rapidly and would continue to change. The agency’s public FAQ says the overall risk of a pandemic from this outbreak remains extremely low. (cdc.gov) ### What does the Canadian case show about the response now? Canadian media reported that a Canadian case was confirmed as the ship docked in the Netherlands for disinfection. CBC, citing reporting from Rotterdam, said the ship arrived there on May 18 with 25 crew members and two medical personnel still aboard after passengers had disembarked in Tenerife. (who.int) Yvonne van Duijnhoven, Rotterdam’s director of public health, told the Associated Press that crew members would be tested on arrival and then weekly during quarantine. (cdc.gov) She also said the vessel would be decontaminated under Dutch public-health guidelines and inspected before it is allowed to sail again. The ship’s next scheduled Arctic cruise is set to depart from Keflavik on May 29, according to the AP report carried by CBC. (cbc.ca) (chch.com)