90-Second Read: NIH Director Says Hantavirus ‘Is Not COVID’ As U.S. Passengers Prepare For Return (Latest Updates)

A symptomatic passenger who returned to America after disembarking the MV Honduis, and is being cared for in Atlanta, tests negative for Hantavirus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. 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. Ghebreyesus says none of the remaining passengers or crew aboard the MV Hondius are symptomatic, but that "it is possible more cases will be reported" because it can be up to six weeks before those infected with the Andes variant of Hantavirus show symptoms. Spanish officials confirm that after testing positive once for Hantavirus, the American now known to be Kornfield has since tested negative twice for the disease, meaning no Americans are among the nine confirmed cases of the illness.

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. 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. May 4, 2026 The World Health Organization ⁠confirms a strain of Hantavirus is spreading aboard the ship, with two lab-confirmed cases and five more suspected cases. The American who tested positive for Hantavirus says he is symptom free while a patient in Paris is critically ill.

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. 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. France's Health Minister Stéphanie Rist says a woman, among five French nationals evacuated from the vessel, has tested positive for the Hantavirus and all five people will be put under isolation in Paris. He insisted the public health risk remains "low." A Dutch flight attendant who has developed mild symptoms is being tested for the disease after she briefly came into contact with one of the deceased Hantavirus patients.

A French patient confirmed to have the Hantavirus is now critically ill with life-threatening heart and lung problems, a doctor at her Paris hospital confirms. An international team of scientists is working to create a vaccine against Hantavirus, the BBC reported. People typically get Hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, normally when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva, or sometimes through a bite or scratch, but officials say no rodents have been found on the MV Hondius ship.