90-Second Read: Hantavirus update: California residents aboard cruise, no known San Francisco passengers

California health officials are monitoring a resident exposed to a rare Hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. California health officials are monitoring a returned passenger exposed to an Andes Hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, but say the risk to the public is extremely low. San Francisco health officials said Friday there are no known city residents aboard a cruise ship at the center of a rare Hantavirus outbreak, while California officials monitor one returned resident for possible exposure. Crew members of the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. Federal officials notified the state that California residents had been aboard the MV Hondius, the Dutch-flagged expedition ship at the.

Evacuations were taking place on May 6, 2026 from a cruise ship stricken with a deadly outbreak of Hantavirus, the World Health Organization said, as experts confirmed a rare strain that can be transmitted between humans. The San Francisco Department of Public Health said it was monitoring the outbreak with CDPH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other local health departments and would update residents if there were public health impacts in San Francisco. Health workers get off the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people as it remains off Cape Verde on Monday, May 4, 2026 after three passengers died and several others fell seriously ill in a suspected Hantavirus outbreak. At least one other California resident remains aboard the ship, state officials said..

Health officials said the risk to the public remains "extremely low," but the unusual outbreak has drawn international attention because Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents, not people. Medics escort a patient, second left, evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship with suspected Hantavirus infection, to an ambulance after being flown to Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. CDPH said there are no known cases of Andes Hantavirus infection in people who do not have symptoms. People who develop fever, difficulty breathing or other symptoms after possible Hantavirus exposure should seek medical care and describe their exposure history, health officials said. One California resident has returned home and is in contact with local public health officials, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The outbreak has renewed interest in a virus that made national headlines in March, when authorities said Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman's wife, died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome at the couple's home in New Mexico. But health officials said the cruise ship outbreak involves the Andes strain, which is different from the Sin Nombre virus that circulates in California and other parts of North America. CDC also said it had developed health guidance for affected American passengers, delivered through the State Department, and was distributing monitoring guidance and resources to state and local health departments. Health officials emphasized that the cruise ship outbreak is not comparable to COVID-19 or influenza, which spread much more easily. For Californians not connected to the cruise ship, health guidance remains focused on avoiding rodent exposure.