GoKawiilA person who was aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has tested positive for a variant of hantavirus and is now in an intensive-care unit in South Africa.Credit: Elton Monteiro/EPA/Shutterstock
Infectious-disease researchers are eager to learn more about a suspected outbreak of hantavirus, on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Three people have died while on board the MV Hondius and a fourth passenger has been evacuated to a hospital in South Africa. The World Health Organization says laboratory testing has confirmed that this person has a variant of hantavirus, a family of viruses that are carried by rodents but can also infect people.
In addition, two crew members have respiratory symptoms but have not been confirmed to have the infection, according to the ship’s operator, the Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions. The cause of death for the other three passengers is not yet known, the company said in a statement. The MV Hondius is currently located off the coast of Cabo Verde.
Vaithi Arumugaswami, an infectious-disease researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that hantaviruses do not pose a pandemic risk, but the incident is a warning that the viruses should be monitored and that more research is needed to develop vaccines and treatments for them.
What are hantaviruses?
There are two main groups of hantaviruses. The Old World hantavirus is found in Africa, Asia and Europe and causes haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). The New World hantavirus has been found in the Americas and causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).
Arumugaswami thinks that the passenger on the ship was probably infected with a strain of the New World subgroup called the Andes virus, which was first identified in Chile and Argentina in 1995. This virus is concerning because it can spread between people, he says.
The MV Hondius started its journey in Argentina, which has had an ongoing outbreak of the Andes virus since last year. Between July 2025 and January 2026, at least 20 deaths from the virus were reported in the country. The number of cases has been similar to that in previous years, but researchers say there has been an increase in the fatality rate.
Between January 2025 and January 2026, 34% of people infected with the virus died, compared with the historical national averages of 10–32% in each year between 2019 and 2024, according to Argentina Ministry of Health.
How do hantaviruses spread?
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