90-Second Read: US Passenger Evacuated From Cruise Ship Tests Positive For Hantavirus (Live)

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. 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. 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. 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.

Oceanwide Expeditions, operator of the cruise ship MV Hondius, says at least 29 living passengers from 12 countries disembarked the ship and went home after the death of the first passenger on board (before officials knew of the outbreak). 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. 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 MV Hondius has reached the end of its Hantavirus-stricken journey.

Monday, May 18, 2026 The MV Hondius arrives in the Netherlands carrying 25 crew members and two medical professionals, none of whom are showing any symptoms of the Andes strain of Hantavirus. 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. 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. 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.

An international team of scientists is working to create a vaccine against Hantavirus, the BBC reported. 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. 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.