Three Die in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak Aboard MV Hondius
The Andes strain was later identified in patients tied to the voyage, and Spain planned evaluations in Tenerife before repatriating asymptomatic passengers.
Updated May 25, 2026
Oceanwide Expeditions' MV Hondius has arrived in the Netherlands for disinfection after a hantavirus outbreak tied to the voyage reached 12 reported cases and three reported deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Most passengers, including 18 Americans, are now under quarantine in their home countries.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the newest confirmed case was a crew member who had disembarked in Tenerife and was repatriated to the Netherlands, where the crew member has been in isolation. WHO said there have been no new deaths since May 2, when the outbreak was first reported to the agency.
Ship reaches the Netherlands as monitoring continues
Oceanwide Expeditions said 20 crew members and two medical staff members disembarked the ship in the Netherlands. The vessel's arrival follows earlier medical evacuations off Cape Verde and onward movement to Spain's Canary Islands, where remaining passengers were evaluated and transferred for repatriation or further medical handling.
Ghebreyesus said more than 600 contacts are being followed in 30 countries, and that a small number of high-risk contacts were still being located. "We continue to urge affected countries to monitor all passengers and crew carefully for the remainder of the quarantine period," he said.
The incubation period for hantavirus is up to six weeks, according to WHO. That has left health authorities tracking passengers, crew and contacts well after people left the vessel or returned home.
Illness timeline and reported cases
The first known patient, a 70-year-old Dutch man, became ill aboard the ship in early April and died on April 11. His body was later taken off the vessel at St Helena, where his 69-year-old wife also disembarked. She collapsed in South Africa while trying to continue home and later died in hospital.
South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the woman's blood tested positive posthumously for hantavirus. A 69-year-old British passenger who fell ill after the ship left St Helena was evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa on April 27 and was treated in intensive care in Johannesburg after testing positive.
A German passenger died onboard on May 2. Four days later, three people were evacuated from the ship to specialist care in Europe; two were symptomatic, and the third had been in close contact with the German passenger who died onboard.
WHO's latest count is 12 reported cases and three reported deaths.
Andes strain and public-health risk
Hantaviruses are usually transmitted through contact with urine, feces or saliva from infected rodents, including by inhaling contaminated particles. Symptoms may begin with fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache or gastrointestinal illness before progressing to cough, shortness of breath and severe respiratory disease.
The Andes virus, identified in people infected in the Hondius outbreak, is the only hantavirus strain known to have previously spread from person to person. That transmission is rare and generally associated with close contact.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said there "may be some human-to-human transmission" among close contacts aboard the ship, while WHO was also considering exposure before boarding or during shore activities.
"The risk to the wider public remains low," said Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe. "There is no need for panic or travel restrictions."
Tracing the outbreak's origin
Hondius had been sailing from Ushuaia, Argentina, on a South Atlantic itinerary that included Antarctica and remote island calls before reaching Cape Verde. Oceanwide Expeditions said in a Tuesday statement that "indications strongly suggest that the virus was introduced prior to embarkation and did not originate from the vessel itself."
WHO is continuing to investigate the origin of the outbreak. Argentine health authorities have been reconstructing the Dutch couple's travel history through southern Argentina and Chile, and planned rodent capture and analysis in Ushuaia, where Hondius departed on April 1. Argentine investigators suspect the Dutch couple may have contracted the virus during a bird-watching trip before boarding. A definitive source of exposure has not been established.
