Hantavirus Outbreak 2026 Update: Officials Scramble to Track Down 29 Passengers Who Left the Ship
Multiple countries, including the United States, are scrambling to locate 29 passengers (the Dutch government claims the number is 40) who disembarked the MV Hondius cruise ship amid the ongoing deadly hantavirus outbreak. As of writing, three people have died from the disease, with three laboratory-confirmed cases and five other suspected cases. The aforementioned three passengers were medically evacuated on Wednesday.
Per NBC News, a potential new case emerged on Thursday-this time, it's a woman who wasn't on the troubled cruise ship. A flight attendant is also being tested for hantavirus in the Netherlands. The aforementioned woman died after contracting the rare but deadly virus and was "briefly" on a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, but was removed before takeoff. However, it's unclear at this stage if the flight attendant was on the same plane as the woman.
The 29 passengers left the Hondius after the first death on April 24. They disembarked in St. Helena without contact tracing. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions revealed in a statement on Thursday that "the body of a Dutch man who died at sea also left the boat at this stage."
The company added that it was "working to establish" the locations of all the passengers, six of whom are Americans, and that it had made contact with them. One of the Americans is in Arizona, two are in Georgia, and one is in California. Authorities claimed that none of them is showing symptoms.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), is currently hosting a live media briefing, which people can watch on the organization's social media. The WHO has insisted that the risk to the general public is low and that this particular strain of the hantavirus, the Andes variant, is transmitted only through close personal contact between humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also added that the "risk to the American public is extremely low."
Ruhi Cenet, a travel vlogger, told NBC News that the Hondius captain claimed the first death was from "natural causes," and that passengers aboard the cruise ship were "not well informed."
"It is very scary because it was nothing that we were ready for. ... Knowing that we didn't get isolated and we didn't take any caution for a solid 12 days, for my part, is a very sad situation," Cenet said in an interview with NBC News.
The ship is en route to the Canary Islands, with Spain's interior ministry claiming it would arrive on Sunday. Evacuations would begin on Monday. However, Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, has opposed the ship's plan to dock there.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 9:25 AM.