Detailed article from FORBES on the progression of the hantavirus outbreak
Not 'generally transmissible person to person
From here – (h/t CITIZEN FREE PRESS)
Cruise Ship’s Hantavirus Outbreak Could Have Started On Bird-Watching Trip (Live Updates)
“Health officials have said the number of lab-confirmed hantavirus cases in a deadly outbreak on a cruise ship has risen to five and two people remain in “serious” condition as the ship sails for the Canary Islands, where passengers will be allowed to disembark for the first time since the outbreak started.
Timeline
Wednesday, May 6, 2026The 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.
May 6, 2026Argentine 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.
May 6, 2026Health 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.
May 6, 2026Spanish health minister Monica Garcia says the MV Hondius is en en route to the Granadilla port in Tenerife, where passengers will be allowed to leave the ship. Spanish citizens and those with symptoms will be quarantined on a Madrid military base, and people from other countries with no symptoms will be sent home.
May 6, 2026Three 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.
May 6, 2026A 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.
May 6, 2025The 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.
May 4, 2026The World Health Organization confirms a strain of hantavirus is spreading aboard the ship, with two lab-confirmed cases and five more suspected cases.
May 4, 2026Cape Verdean authorities refuse to allow the MV Hondius to dock at the port of Praia, a decision they said is to protect public health.
May 2, 2026A German national dies aboard the MV Hondius.
April 27, 2026A British passenger is medically evacuated to South Africa from the ship, and is teated in an intensive care unit in Johannesburg. He is confirmed to have a variant of hantavirus.
April 26, 2026The 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.
April 11, 2026 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.
April 1The MV Hondius leaves Ushuaia, Argentina.
Crucial Quote
“This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” WHO epidemic expert Maria Van Kerkhove said. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
Where Is The Mv Hondius?
As of Wednesday, the ship is in West Africa 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.
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. There have been three confirmed cases and five suspected cases linked to the outbreak so far. Three people have died.
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.
Surprising Fact
Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, died in February 2025 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. She was 65.
Two brits have returned home and are self-isolating.
From Brave AI:
There are 23 British nationals on board the MV Hondius cruise ship. This group consists of 19 passengers and 4 crew members.
Among those affected by the hantavirus outbreak:
One British passenger (aged 69) is in intensive care in Johannesburg.
One British crew member is on board requiring urgent medical care for acute respiratory symptoms.
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You may also want to check Dr Malone’s recent sstack post, on what the media got wrong and more or less right about this outbreak. May have been posted earlier today.
Hmm - "probably not a person to person transmission" - with as long as they've had to play with this, I wouldn't hold my breath! Wonder if Dyncorp owns the patent on this one!