"The hantavirus outbreak was first reported to the WHO on May 2 and remains a low risk to the general public, the org. says.

Hantavirus typically spreads to humans through contact with rodent urine or droppings, though this strain, the Andes virus, can in rare cases spread person-to-person through very close, prolonged contact with an infected person.

The CDC has classified its hantavirus response as Level 3, the agency’s lowest level of emergency."

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/us/hantavirus-cruise-passengers-nebraska-facility
2/n

Statement from the International Hantavirus Society and members of the international hantavirus research and clinical community regarding the current Andes virus outbreak investigation -

- Andes virus differs from other hantaviruses

- Rare disease incidence does not imply absent transmission potential

- Current evidence does not suggest a highly transmissible pandemic scenario

- Current evidence does not support describing Andes virus as ‘barely transmissible'

https://zenodo.org/records/20112944
3/n

"A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive for the virus.

The French woman is in serious condition.

The American passenger who was flown to Nebraska along with 16 others on Sunday evening tested positive but had no symptoms."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/11/evacuated-us-and-french-mv-hondius-cruise-ship-passengers-test-positive-for-hantavirus
4/n

For those who understand cell biology and genomics better, here are some references on the hantavirus.

The natural reservoir for Hantaviruses are rodents. Typically, a rodent species carries one hantavirus species.

The New World hantaviruses cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) whose fatality rate is 30–60%.

Like most viruses, these evolve via mutations, recombinations and reassortments, some across species.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43073318_A_Global_Perspective_on_Hantavirus_Ecology_Epidemiology_and_Disease
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01326/full
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthohantavirus
5/n

Preliminary analysis of virus sequences -

“Across all 3 hantavirus genome segments, the closest relatives are consistent with one another, which suggests the virus has not undergone reassortment which is a process where segmented viruses exchange genome segments with another strain, potentially creating a novel variant.

The outbreak virus likely emerged from a single, relatively stable viral lineage."

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-first-complete-sequence-of-the-hantavirus-from-the-current-cluster-from-mv-hondius-from-the-swiss-patient-with-confirmed-andes-strain-uploaded-to-the-virological-org-platform-by-t/
https://virological.org/t/preliminary-analysis-of-orthohantavirus-andesense-virus-sequences-from-a-cruise-ship-related-cluster-may-2026/1029

6/n

m/v Hondius is a luxury ship for expedition and exploratory cruising in the polar regions. Passengers get to experience exotic landscapes and wildlife up close.

Which means exposure to wildlife and the pathogens they carry.

There are rumors that a passenger may have been infected at a landfill site on the outskirts of town of Ushuaia, where the cruise started and where waste attracts rats and mice. Locals vehemently deny the possibility.

https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/our-fleet/m-v-hondius
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21ej471g2o
7/n