90-Second Read: Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak exposes CDC missteps

The recent outbreak of Hantavirus infection on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius raises several questions and concerns. On May 7, 2026, the CDC sent a team to meet the cruise ship in the Canary Islands, almost a month after the first death due to Hantavirus. Between the epidemiological weeks 1 and 10 of 2026 (4 January to 14 March 2026), the Ministry of Public Health in Argentina reported 12 confirmed Hantavirus cases and two deaths in Salta Province, northwestern Argentina. Dutch ornithologist Leo Schilperoord was the first person to die of Hantavirus infection on the ship on April 11, 2026.

Apparently, there were multiple cases and deaths due to Hantavirus in the same area in 2025 also. Sometime around a month prior to embarking the cruise ship, they took a trip to northern Argentina where Hantavirus is endemic. Hantavirus is a deadly disease with up to 50 percent mortality and requires specialized PPE including shoe covers to be used by health care personnel. He and his wife, Mirjam, 69, had recently visited northern Patagonia in Argentina, 1,500 miles north and before boarding the ship at a southern Argentine port.

See how CDC delays, missed Argentina warnings, and a short Andes virus quarantine raise risk. The Andes virus variant of the Hantavirus from this area had already exhibited the troublesome feature of person-to-person spread of the disease. The incubation period of Hantavirus is noted to be 1 to 8 weeks. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus and the acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya were optimistic, saying, "This is not another COVID-19." Hopefully not, but we do not want to see a repeat of the public health failures of COVID-19.

Why was this outbreak not followed up and investigated? The Dutch couple had been in Argentina for several months, since November last year. However, pictures circulating in the media show health workers wearing long gowns with exposed shoes spraying the passengers at the Tenerife airport.