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Hantavirus updates: Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus 

PHOTO: The cruise ship MV Hondius leaves Praia, Cape Verde, May 6, 2026.
1:35
Stringer/Reuters
Officials tracking at least 41 Americans after deadly hantavirus outbreak
By Christopher Watson, Ivan Pereira, Jon Haworth, Mary Kekatos, Nadine El-Bawab, Leah Sarnoff, Kevin Shalvey
Last Updated: May 12, 2026, 6:42 PM

The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship stands at 11, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.

No cases of Andes hantavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. The eighteen American ship passengers are being monitored at the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Key Headlines

  • Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus
  • Health officials in Washington state tracking hantavirus case unrelated to cruise ship
  • 2 cruise ship passengers originally in Atlanta now at Nebraska quarantine facility
  • Suspected hantavirus case at upstate New York high school, not linked to cruise ship
  • US has no cases of Andes hantavirus
Here's how the news is developing.

Pinned
May 08, 2026 5:17 PM

What is hantavirus and how does it spread?

Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:

What is hantavirus?

Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.

PHOTO: Stock photo of a colorized electron micrograph of the Hantavirus.
Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Lib/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
Stock photo of a colorized electron micrograph of the Hantavirus.
Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Lib/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

How does hantavirus spread?

Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.

Read more about hantavirus here.


Pinned
May 11, 2026 2:11 PM

Risk to general public 'very, very low'

The “risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low,” Dr. Brian Christine, Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said at a news conference on Monday.

The Andes variant "does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged, close contact with someone who is already symptomatic," he assured.

Even though, he said, the department has taken the situation "very seriously from the very start."


May 12, 2026 6:42 PM

Positive patient in France presenting 'severe form,' in 'serious condition'

The French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus “is presenting a severe form and is currently in intensive care in a serious condition,” French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said in French at a news conference on Tuesday.

She "has the most severe form of cardiopulmonary presentation, and she is receiving what is called, or rather what is the final stage of supportive care: extracorporeal circulation for artificial oxygenation," Risk said. "She has a lung-machine, a blood diversion, which we hope will allow her to get through this difficult period while her lung, which is being attacked by this virus and the damage to the vascular wall, recovers."

The other four French nationals who were taken off the ship were hospitalized for monitoring and they tested negative and "are doing well," she said.

Rist stressed that only people who were on the ship have tested positive.

PHOTO: Port vessels accompany the MV Hondius as it departs the Granadilla Port after all passengers were evacuated on May 11, 2026 in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain.
Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images
Port vessels accompany the MV Hondius as it departs the Granadilla Port after all passengers were evacuated on May 11, 2026 in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain.
Chris Mcgrath/Getty Images


Through contact tracing, Rist said “eight French nationals were identified on the flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg. A second flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam was carrying French nationals with a lower level of risk, in so far as a patient was present but was rapidly disembarked, which limited the exposure of travelers.”

“In total, 22 contact cases have been identified in France,” she said. “They have all been contacted, tested, hospitalized or are in the process of being hospitalized and are subject to rigorous health monitoring.”

-ABC News’ Othon Leyva


May 12, 2026 5:34 PM

Symptomatic cruise ship passenger in Atlanta tests negative

The cruise ship passenger at an Atlanta hospital who reported mild symptoms has tested negative for hantavirus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. This passenger’s partner is also being monitored at the Emory University facility, officials said.

PHOTO: The exterior of Emory University Hospital, where two passengers from the cruise ship that had an hantavirus outbreak, are being monitored and treated, in Atlanta, Georgia, May 11, 2026.
Alyssa Pointer/Reuters
The exterior of Emory University Hospital, where two passengers from the cruise ship that had an hantavirus outbreak, are being monitored and treated, in Atlanta, Georgia, May 11, 2026.
Alyssa Pointer/Reuters


Meanwhile, the 16 passengers who are being monitored in Nebraska do not have symptoms, including the person in the biocontainment unit who previously tested positive, HHS said.

-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud


May 12, 2026 2:58 PM

12 Dutch hospital staffers quarantined after treating hantavirus patient

Twelve staffers at a hospital in the Netherlands are under quarantine after treating a hantavirus patient, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans told lawmakers.

“Strict procedures were followed there, but not the very strictest procedures that apply in the case of this hantavirus,” Hermans said.

“This concerns the taking of blood and the disposal of urine from the patient,” she said. "… The chance that staff were infected as a result is small, but because we know that we are dealing with a serious virus here, [the hospital officials] said we are erring on the side of caution. We know this is a drastic measure with a major impact, but we are taking it nonetheless.”

-ABC News’ Othon Leyva



May 12, 2026 1:52 PM

Cruise ship passenger speaks out from quarantine

Jake Rosmarin is among the passengers quarantining in Nebraska after disembarking the MV Hondius cruise ship.

"I was relieved to get off the ship and have a plan in place, and they were treating us really, really well here, so I can't ask for anything more than that," Rosmarin told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.

Hantavirus cruise ship passenger speaks out from quarantine
2:37
Jake Rosmarin speaks with “GMA” from Omaha, Nebraska, where he and other American passengers are quarantining after disembarking the MV Hondius cruise ship.


Rosmarin said he is not experiencing any symptoms and plans on remaining in quarantine for the next 42 days.

"I think that is the best decision that's for me and for my family, and I know that here, I'm in the best care possible," Rosmarin said, adding that his room in the quarantine unit has air conditioning, an exercise bike and he is receiving at least three meals a day. "I can't ask for any more than that."

Click here to read more.


May 11, 2026 2:11 PM

Risk to general public 'very, very low'

The “risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low,” Dr. Brian Christine, Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said at a news conference on Monday.

The Andes variant "does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged, close contact with someone who is already symptomatic," he assured.

Even though, he said, the department has taken the situation "very seriously from the very start."


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