WHO Says Andes Hantavirus Outbreak Aboard MV Hondius Killed Three, Quarantines 147

A hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, which departed from Argentina on April 1, has killed three people and sickened others, with the World Health Organization describing the strain as the Andes virus and noting that the ship is on its way to Spain’s Canary Islands.

“Health officials track dozens who left hantavirus-stricken ship after first fatality Health officials track dozens who left hantavirus-stricken ship after first fatality MADRID (AP) — Health authorities across four continents Thursday were tracking down and monitoring passengers who disembarked a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship before its deadly outbreak was detected, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then”

AP News

The first death was a Dutch man who became sick with fever, headache, and diarrhea on April 6 and died on April 11, and the WHO said the wife of that man went ashore on April 24 on Saint Helena with gastrointestinal symptoms before dying in South Africa on April 26.

AP News

A second man began showing signs of respiratory distress on board the ship on April 26 and was medically evacuated to South Africa the next day, while a second woman aboard the cruise became ill on April 28 and died on May 2.

As of Thursday, health authorities said 147 passengers and crew were being quarantined to prevent further spread, and the ship was expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife during the "early hours" of May 10.

The World Health Organization stressed that the risk to the general public is "low" even as the Andes strain has shown rare person-to-person transmission, with Maria Van Kerkhove telling a news conference, "This is not coronavirus, this is a ⁠very different virus."

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a May 6 statement that "The risk to the American public is extremely low," while USA TODAY reported that officials in at least five U.S. states were monitoring people who traveled on the MV Hondius.

CBC

The WHO said it was working on step-by-step guidance for when the MV Hondius reaches Spain’s Canary Islands, expected early Sunday, and that none of the remaining passengers currently have any symptoms.

AP reported that health authorities across four continents were tracking passengers who disembarked before the outbreak was detected, and it said the Argentine investigators suspect a Dutch couple may have contracted the virus during a bird-watching trip before boarding the cruise ship.

Beyond the immediate response, Scientific American reported that in 2025 the Trump administration eliminated funding for a pilot project aimed at studying the type of hantavirus confirmed behind the outbreak on the MV Hondius.

“Health officials around the world are monitoring a deadly linked to a Dutch-flagged”

CBS News

The article said the pilot project was conducted through the West African Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (WAC-EID), one of 10 centers that comprised the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) network, and that all 10 centers were shuttered last year after the National Institutes of Health decided the research was “unsafe.”

Scientific American also reported that from 2021 WAC-EID was awarded U.S. governmental grants ranging between $521,027 and $1,702,711, and that Weaver said around $100,000 would likely have been dedicated to the Argentina study.

As the ship moves toward disembarkation, the WHO said it was working with countries of passengers’ nationalities and that the long incubation period means more cases could still emerge, while Time Magazine quoted Tedros Ghebreyesus saying, "That appears to be the case in the current situation."