{"id":805416,"date":"2026-05-18T16:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/805416\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:15:22","slug":"these-are-the-u-s-states-monitoring-for-hantavirus-cases-linked-to-cruise-ship-at-center-of-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/805416\/","title":{"rendered":"These are the U.S. states monitoring for hantavirus cases linked to cruise ship at center of outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public health officials in at least 10 U.S. states are monitoring residents for symptoms after potential hantavirus exposure<\/a> linked to the MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship at the center of an outbreak that has killed three people and sickened at least eight others, with a Canadian passenger from the ship testing presumptive positive on Friday.<\/p>\n

Eighteen passengers who evacuated from the ship \u2014 including 17 U.S. residents and one British dual national \u2014 are now at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Sixteen arrived directly from the Canary Islands on Monday. Two additional individuals were initially taken to Emory University’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit in Atlanta and transferred to Nebraska on Friday after being medically cleared, the medical center said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the outbreak as a Level 3 emergency response, the lowest level of emergency activation, and has stressed that the risk to the broader U.S. public is “extremely low.”<\/p>\n

There are no known cases in the United States linked to the MV Hondius outbreak.<\/p>\n

A separate suspected case of locally acquired hantavirus is also under investigation in New York<\/a>. State health officials are looking into a possible infection involving a student at Geneva High School in Ontario County, the Geneva City School District confirmed Thursday. Officials say the case is not connected to the MV Hondius outbreak. It is not included in the list of states monitoring cruise-linked exposure below.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, the state health department said Saturday that a Douglas County adult had died of hantavirus in a case that is also not linked to the cruise ship. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said preliminary evidence points to local exposure to rodents and that the strain involved \u2014 Sin Nombre \u2014 does not spread person-to-person. As with the New York case, Colorado is not included in the list of states monitoring cruise-linked exposure below.<\/p>\n

Here is what health officials in each state have said.<\/p>\n

Arizona<\/p>\n

The Arizona Department of Health Services said it is monitoring one resident who was a passenger on the MV Hondius. The individual is \u201cnot symptomatic and is being monitored by public health,” department spokesperson Magda Rodriguez said in a statement to the Arizona Republic<\/a>. The resident left the ship at the South Atlantic island of St. Helena on April 24, before the outbreak was identified.<\/p>\n

California<\/p>\n

The California Department of Public Health is monitoring five residents<\/a> who were potentially exposed to the hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship. Three were passengers on the MV Hondius, including two who were among those transported to Nebraska by federal health authorities.<\/p>\n

One passenger returned home prior to the discovery of the outbreak and is being monitored by local officials. Another resident was on an international flight sitting near an infected cruise passenger.<\/p>\n

And state health officials identified an additional Californian who \u201cdisembarked the MV Hondius before the outbreak was identified, returned briefly to California and left for additional travel also before the outbreak was identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

That person, who is currently in the Pitcairn Islands, a British territory in the South Pacific, is being monitored by the CDC, in coordination with British health officials. They remain asymptomatic, the health department said.<\/p>\n

Georgia<\/p>\n

The Georgia Department of Public Health said that it was monitoring two residents who traveled on MV Hondius. The residents were in good health and showed no signs of infection.<\/p>\n

Kansas<\/p>\n

Officials in Kansas are monitoring three people<\/a> who had a \u201chigh-risk exposure\u201d to someone with a confirmed case of hantavirus, the state Department of Health and Environment announced Tuesday. A high-risk exposure includes someone who has had \u201cprolonged close contact or shared living space with a symptomatic individual, or close proximity during travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three people being monitored had close contact with someone from the MV Hondius cruise ship, who later tested positive. That interaction happened outside the U.S., the department said.<\/p>\n

The three exposed individuals are currently being monitored at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. They do not have any symptoms.<\/p>\n

Maryland<\/p>\n

The Maryland Department of Health said it is monitoring two residents<\/a> who \u201cwere on a flight that briefly included a M\/V Hondius cruise ship passenger infected with hantavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minnesota<\/p>\n

Health officials in Minnesota are monitoring one person \u201cwho may have briefly been exposed overseas to someone who was on board the MV Hondius cruise and tested positive for hantavirus,\u201d the state\u2019s Department of Health<\/a> announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been very cooperative, and we are monitoring them daily,\u201d the health department said, adding that the person does not currently have symptoms.<\/p>\n

New Jersey<\/p>\n

The New Jersey Department of Health said Friday it is monitoring two residents who may have been exposed to an infected MV Hondius passenger. They were not passengers on the cruise ship. \u201cThe potential exposure occurred during air travel abroad,\u201d the health department said in a statement<\/a>, adding that neither individual has shown symptoms.<\/p>\n

Texas<\/p>\n

The Texas Department of State Health Services said it is monitoring two residents who had been on the cruise ship and returned to the U.S. before the outbreak was identified. \u201cThey are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship,” the department said in a statement<\/a>. The two residents have agreed to monitor themselves with daily temperature checks.<\/p>\n

Virginia<\/p>\n

The Virginia Department of Health said that one resident who returned home from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship is in good health and showing no symptoms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washington<\/p>\n

Washington state health officials say they are monitoring for symptoms three people who may have been exposed to hantavirus linked to the MV Hondius outbreak.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s health department announced on Tuesday<\/a> that two Seattle-area residents were on a flight that briefly included an MV Hondius passenger who later tested positive for hantavirus. The individuals, who did not travel on the ship themselves, are asymptomatic, the health department said.<\/p>\n

A third resident of Washington\u2019s King County is among the passengers currently at the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Public health officials in at least 10 U.S. states are monitoring residents for symptoms after potential hantavirus exposure…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":796417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[63832,316365,210,2041,29908,317674,44066,325684,90294,67,132,177071,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-805416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cruise-ship","9":"tag-hantavirus","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-department","12":"tag-health-officials","13":"tag-hondius","14":"tag-monitoring","15":"tag-national-quarantine-unit","16":"tag-state-health-officials","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-university-of-nebraska-medical-center","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116596475717911635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}