State Dept. and several states monitoring U.S. passengers exposed to hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship
OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:14 PM – Friday, May 8, 2026
The United States is closely monitoring the recent outbreak of hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship containing U.S. travelers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The Department of State is leading a coordinated, whole-of-government response including direct contact with passengers, diplomatic coordination, and engagement with domestic and international health authorities,” the CDC stated on Wednesday.
Three people, a Dutch couple and a German citizen, have already passed away from the outbreak on the Dutch M/V Hondius cruise ship.
The CDC said its experts are “working closely with our international partners to provide technical assistance and guidance to mitigate risk.”
The vessel’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said 29 passengers, including six Americans, could be at risk of carrying the virus after leaving the ship on April 24th, shortly after the first death occurred.
The whereabouts of these passengers are unclear, but at least six states, Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, are working to track them.
The ship was later barred from docking, leaving it stranded in the Atlantic Ocean, as two crew members were evacuated for treatment.
Nine people on board are confirmed or suspected to have contracted the virus, including the three deaths, according to a CBS News report on Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) previously said that the number of confirmed cases stood at five.
The CDC assured that, “At this time, the risk to the American public is extremely low,” but urged all Americans aboard the cruise ship to “follow the guidance of health officials as we work to bring you home safely.”
There have not been any reported hantavirus cases in the United States. The CDC classified the outbreak as a “level 3” emergency response, which is the lowest level of emergency activation.
Hantaviruses can lead to serious illnesses, such as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
HPS is “a severe and potentially deadly disease that affects the lungs,” according to the CDC. Possible symptoms include fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, chills, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
HFRS is also “severe and sometimes deadly,” though it affects the kidneys. Symptoms may include intense headaches, back and abdominal pain, fever and chills, nausea, blurred vision, low blood pressure, flushing of the face, inflammation and redness in the eyes, acute shock, internal bleeding and acute kidney failure, according to the agency.
Hantavirus is usually only spread through contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva. Health experts expect, however, that this particular outbreak may be the Andes variant, which is the only type of hantavirus known to spread from person to person, though research is still ongoing on the nature of the recent cases. In light of this suspicion, those onboard the Hondius are self-isolating.
The cruise ship is expected to dock on the island of Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, according to the country’s health minister.
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