Three people have died and five others have been sickened aboard a small Dutch expedition cruise ship in a hantavirus outbreak, health officials say.
On Wednesday, three suspected hantavirus patients were evacuated from the MV Hondius ship in Cape Verde, while the Canary Islands refused to allow the vessel to dock there.
The patients were taken to the Netherlands for urgent medical care, the head of the World Health Organization said.
“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus added in a statement on X.
The ship, carrying about 150 passengers, including 61 crew members, is anchored off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean. It had been given permission to dock at the Canary Islands by the Spanish government, which said it had a “moral and legal obligation to assist these people” after Cape Verde, the ship’s planned destination, refused to allow passengers ashore.
This aerial view shows health personnel assisting patients onto a boat from the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026.
(AFP via Getty Images)
Buy Canary Islands regional leader Fernando Clavijo said Wednesday he opposed the ship docking there, saying there is not “sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety.”
“I cannot allow it to enter the Canary Islands,” he said.
The World Health Organization and European Union had asked Spain to take the MV Hondius “in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.”
Hantavirus is typically passed from rodents to humans through feces, saliva or urine. It can cause severe respiratory illness and can be fatal. Human-to-human transmission is rare.
The WHO said in a statement on Tuesday that the suspected outbreak is not a public health threat and that the risk to the global population is “low.”
“There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,” Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said in a statement on Monday.
Here’s what we know.
What we know about those who have died or have symptoms
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship into an ambulance at a port in Praia, Cape Verde on May 6, 2026.
(Misper Apawu/AP)
The confirmed hantavirus cases include a British passenger who is in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Dutch woman who died after disembarking with the body of her husband, who had shown symptoms before his death. The cause of his death and that of a German national have not yet been confirmed.
Two crew members are showing acute symptoms of the disease, the company said. Another suspected case reported a mild fever at one point but is currently asymptomatic and doing well, the WHO said Tuesday. A fifth person who traveled on the affected cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus, Swiss authorities said. He returned home to Switzerland at the end of April and visited his doctor when he noticed symptoms.
No other people with symptoms have been identified. Isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring are in place on board as a precaution.
Two of those affected — the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg and the British man who is hospitalized there — were infected by the Andes strain that passes from human to human, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Both became ill on the ship.
“This is the only strain that is known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact,” says South Africa’s health ministry.
What is hantavirus and how do people get it?
A micrographic study of liver tissue seen from a Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) patient seen in this undated photo.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Reuters)
The hantavirus gained attention in February 2025 when the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.
Hantaviruses are a “family of viruses which can cause serious illnesses and death,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People can get hantavirus by coming into contact with rodents, such as mice and rats, particularly when exposed to their urine, feces and saliva. Though rare, it’s possible it can be transmitted through a bite or scratch from a rodent.
“In the Americas, hantaviruses can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a severe respiratory illness, with a case fatality rate up to 40%,” according to the WHO. Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. Half of patients also experience headaches, dizziness, chills and gastrointestinal problems, according to the CDC. HCPS symptoms can show 1 to 8 weeks after contact with an infected rodent.
The Andes virus, the only known limited human-to-human transmission documented, was found in South America, according to the WHO. It’s mostly found in Chile and Argentina, where the ship set sail from. The WHO said on Tuesday that it’s working under the assumption that it’s the Andes virus.
Hantaviruses in Europe and Asia can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and symptoms can develop within one to two weeks after exposure and can include intense headaches, back and abdominal pain, fever, chills, nausea and blurred vision. Later symptoms can include low blood pressure and internal bleeding.
Is there a vaccine for hantavirus?
While there are no specific treatments nor vaccines for hantavirus infections, early supportive care and immediate referral to a facility with a complete ICU can improve survival, says the WHO.
A timeline of the MV Hondius’s travel
This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2026.
(AFP via Getty Images)
The MV Hondius disembarked from Ushuaia, Argentina, in early April and has been at sea for about seven weeks.
On April 11, a Dutch passenger died on board, and the cause of death could not be determined on the ship, according to Oceanwide Expeditions. Around two weeks later, on April 24, the passenger was disembarked in St. Helena, accompanied by his wife, also a Dutch national.
On April 27, the ship’s operator was informed that the wife had become unwell on her journey home and later died. She tested positive for a variant of the hantavirus, the company said.
The same day, another passenger became seriously ill and had to be hospitalized in Johannesburg, South Africa. That passenger, who is British, also tested positive for hantavirus.
On May 2, a German national passenger died on board. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
On May 6, Swiss authorities confirmed a national who had been on the cruise and disembarked at the end of April had tested positive for hantavirus after visiting his doctor. That same day, 3 suspected hantavirus cases were evacuated from the ship (one Brit, one Dutchman and one German).
Does the WHO have any theories about how the suspected outbreak occurred?
Yes. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention at the WHO, explained during a Tuesday press conference that the organization’s working assumption is that the initial Dutch patient and his wife were infected before boarding the cruise ship in Argentina.
“With the timing of the incubation period of hantavirus, which can be anywhere from one to six weeks, our assumption is that they were infected off the ship, perhaps doing some activities there,” Van Kerkhove said. “This was an expedition boat, and many of the people on board were doing bird watching; they were doing a lot of things with wildlife. Our assumption is that they were infected off the boat and then joined the cruise.”
She also explained that the source of infection for the other suspected hantavirus cases may have come from different islands with rodents, as the ship traveled up the coast of Africa.
“However, we do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that’s happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who have shared cabins, etc.”