90-Second Read: American Hantavirus Patient Tests Negative—WHO Says No Sign Of Larger Outbreak (Latest Updates)

Spain on Tuesday reported a new cases of Hantavirus while an American passenger originally reported as "mildly positive" is negative for the virus. Officials clarify an earlier statement about an American patient who tested "mildly positive" for Hantavirus, explaining the person was tested twice for the disease with a PCR molecular test and got one positive and one negative result. Thursday, May 7, 2026 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... A Spanish passenger who was evacuated from the MV Hondius tests positive for Hantavirus, according the Spanish Health Ministry, and is experiencing a "low-grade fever and mild respiratory symptoms," World Health Organization Director Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus says there's "no.

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 CDC and USAID, as well as the country's withdrawal from the World Health Organization. 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. 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. Two residents of Singapore who were onboard.

Twelve staff members at a Dutch hospital are quarantined after blood and urine samples collected from a Hantavirus patient were mishandled, according to Reuters, and they'll stay isolated for six weeks despite a very low risk of infection. The two patients, including the one showing symptoms, are in a biocontainment unit at Emory University while the remaining American residents are in Nebraska, health officials say. Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health, says the risk to the public is still "very, very low." The plane carrying 18 people from the Canary Islands, 17 Americans and one British dual national, back to the United States arrives in Omaha, Nebraska. He insisted the public health risk remains "low." A Dutch flight attendant who has developed mild symptoms is being tested for the disease.

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. CNN cites unnamed health officials in reporting the estimated 17 Americans onboard the cruise ship will be escorted on a charter flight and taken to the National Quarantine Unit, a federally funded quarantine facility in Omaha. People typically get Hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, normally when exposed to their urine, droppings.