Cruise ship disasters tend to grab the world’s attention. When a catastrophe hits, these giant floating cities, so huge up close, instantly transform into vulnerable, isolated, panic-inducing traps, bobbing alone in the vast ocean. Right now, all eyes are on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, which has now docked in the Canary Islands after three passengers died from a strain of hantavirus on a polar expedition cruise from South America. As of May 11, seven other passengers and crew have been sickened, and everyone on the ship is returning to their home countries under strict safety protocols.
Five states—California, Texas, Georgia, Virginia and Arizona—are monitoring residents who disembarked the ship before the outbreak occurred, and New Jersey announced Friday that two residents are being monitored after potentially being exposed during air travel abroad: “The department is working with local health officials to monitor returning travelers as a precaution,” New Jersey Department of Health officials said. “Neither individual is currently reported to have symptoms suggestive of hantavirus.”
You may remember hantavirus as the disease that killed Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, in 2025, and multiple outbreaks of the virus have captivated the public over the past 30 years. But there’s still much about hantavirus that’s unknown, likely due to its rarity. “And so for a time, that probably led to less research into it because of funding priorities,” Steven Bradfute, PhD, an infectious disease researcher at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, told AP News, “but I know there’s been a lot of interest in funding hantavirus work of late.”
Should you be worried? Is this the start of the next pandemic? And what exactly is hantavirus, anyway? We scoured the web for the best news articles and videos for additional context on hantavirus and the cruise ship outbreak, plus what you need to know to protect yourself at home and when you travel.
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Hantavirus is a family of viruses carried by rodents
Hantaviruses aren’t a single organism, but a group of viruses found all over the world. They are known as “zoonotic” viruses, meaning they can jump from animals to people. Hantaviruses are naturally carried by rodents, and each hantavirus tends to infect a specific species (the rodents are carriers but typically have no symptoms).
Discovered on World Health Organization
Only one type of hantavirus can spread from human to human
Hantaviruses primarily spread to humans when they breathe in dust that’s been contaminated by the saliva, urine or droppings of mice and rats. This usually happens when people disturb the homes of infected rodents, such as when cleaning out a garage or shed. But one strain of the virus, Andes, is prevalent in South America (where the MV Hondius originated) and is known to spread from person to person.
Discovered on PBS News Hour
Hantavirus infection is rare, but very serious
Between 1993 and 2023, the latest data available, fewer than 900 cases of hantavirus infections were documented in the United States. Of those cases, the vast majority (859) caused a severe respiratory disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), and the overall mortality rate was 35%.
Discovered on CDC
Early symptoms are often confused with the flu
Even though hantavirus infection can be extremely dangerous, early symptoms often mimic viral illnesses like the flu. Signs of the disease include fever, body aches, dry cough, headaches and diarrhea. Because there is no test for HPS, doctors rely on patients’ respiratory symptoms and exposure to rodents early in the disease progression.
Discovered on American Lung Association
Hantavirus was discovered in the 1990s, but the first known case was in 1959
In 1993, a young, fit Navajo couple died of a mysterious respiratory illness in the Four Corners region of the U.S. (where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet) within days of each other. The disease quickly killed 10 people in two months, and it had a 50% mortality rate over the next year.
When epidemiologists investigated tissue samples from autopsies going back decades, they discovered the virus was not new; it was re-emerging. The first known victim died in 1959.
Discovered on University of New Mexico Museum of Southwestern Biology
American passengers from the cruise ship have arrived in Nebraska
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent teams to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, to escort 17 passengers to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Though passengers were flown to the state on a special biocontainment jet to be evaluated, they will not be quarantined. None of the passengers is currently experiencing symptoms.
Discovered on CNN
There is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus
When people get sick from hantaviruses, the only remedy is supportive care—basically rest, hydration and treatment of symptoms. That treatment depends on the type of hantavirus illness contracted. In the Americas, people tend to get HPS, so the treatment focuses on breathing support, such as intubation. In Europe and Asia, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is more common, with patients benefitting from dialysis to remove toxins from their blood.
Discovered on CDC
Hantavirus in the U.S. almost always occurs in the West
Most cases of hantavirus infection occur in the western half of the U.S., specifically in the Four Corners region. The primary vector is the deer mouse, but scientists have found more than 30 species of mammals in New Mexico alone that carry the virus.
Discovered on University of New Mexico Health Sciences
Early outbreaks led to a media and pop culture frenzy
In the 1990s, reports of young, healthy people dying in hours from a mystery illness created a media firestorm. Breathless reporting about patients who “literally suffocate before they can be put on respirators” alarmed the public and influenced pop culture. One notable episode of the X-Files featured a character who died from thinking about hantavirus and served as a commentary on fear and misinformation.
Discovered on the Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly
Misinformation is still a problem today
Familiar voices from the COVID-19 era, like a doctor who continues to promote ivermectin and public figures who thrive on sowing distrust of the government in general, have amplified dangerous and false information about the crisis. Theories about Chinese bioweapons and vaccine disinformation have led epidemiologists to warn that influencers with a financial motive to sow fear are hampering their ability to do their jobs.
Discovered on Stat News
The cruise ship outbreak is not the start of another pandemic
Despite the severity of the current cases and the fear they understandably stir up in people, experts say that the risk to the general public is very low.
“I want to be unequivocal here. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management at the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a press conference on May 7. “This is not COVID. This is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently.”
Discovered on NPR
But experts say budget cuts have reduced our ability to respond to outbreaks
Even though multiple Americans were aboard the MV Hondius, the CDC did not set up a response team until two weeks after the first patient died. In addition, several U.S. passengers disembarked and returned to the U.S. before the ship reached the Canary Islands—but the agency didn’t issue a statement until four hours after news of their return broke in the media.
Experts say that overall, deep staffing cuts to health agencies means the government has fewer people available to respond to emergencies. President Trump also withdrew the United States from the WHO, which means the country is no longer receiving regular updates on emerging threats.
Discovered on the New York Times
You don’t have to worry about going on a cruise
Because hantavirus infections are so rare, especially those that spread between people, experts say the future of cruising is in good shape. But on any cruise, practicing good hygiene—including washing your hands frequently and maintaining physical distance from symptomatic individuals—is always a good policy.
“I don’t think anybody should be worried about getting on a typical cruise ship and being infected with the hantavirus,” Scott Weaver, a hantavirus researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told Wired. “This was a unique circumstance where the ship docked in a part of the world where these viruses are present, and most of the big cruise ships don’t go to this part of the world.”
Discovered on Wired
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