Hantavirus cruise ship passengers flown home for quarantine

Passengers and crew from the MV Hondius, the site of the first hantavirus outbreak ever recorded at sea, were evacuated from a Canary Islands port and flown to more than 20 countries for quarantine and health monitoring after three people died and at least six confirmed or suspected cases were identified, The Korea Times reported.

The outbreak — linked to the Andes virus, a hantavirus strain capable of spreading between people in rare cases — triggered international repatriation flights and spurred U.S. authorities to place American passengers in specialized biocontainment facilities, highlighting the dangers posed by novel pathogen outbreaks in enclosed maritime environments.

The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 with 54 passengers and crew aboard. The first death occurred April 11, according to The Korea Times. After the vessel anchored at Tenerife, personnel in full-body protective gear transported passengers ashore. Twenty-two of the 54 aboard disembarked at the port while the remaining 32 continued on the ship toward the Netherlands.

Health officials traced the probable source of the outbreak to a Dutch couple who traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding, visiting areas where rodents carrying the Andes virus are found. Unlike most hantavirus strains, the Andes variant can pass between people in rare cases — a characteristic that heightened concern about potential transmission inside the ship's confined spaces.

Of 18 American passengers evacuated to the United States, 16 were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which operates a specialized biocontainment unit, The Korea Times reported. One American tested positive for hantavirus but remained asymptomatic. In France, one woman tested positive and was admitted to intensive care in Paris; four other French passengers who tested negative remained in isolation pending further monitoring.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to calm public concern Sunday. "This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn't be scared, and they shouldn't panic," he said. The WHO recommended that all returning passengers undergo daily health checks, noting that symptoms can take between one and eight weeks to appear after exposure.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed concerns that recent federal agency cuts had weakened the country's preparedness. "We have this under control, and we're not worried about it," Kennedy said. MV Hondius Capt. Jan Dobrogowski acknowledged the ordeal in a video message Monday, saying, "I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike."

Hantavirus has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. With an incubation period of up to eight weeks, health officials warned that new cases could still surface among the more than 50 people aboard during the outbreak. The WHO and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to monitor all returning passengers as of Monday.