active Hantavirus Started Apr 6, 2026

MV Hondius Hantavirus Cluster (2026)

Cluster of Andes hantavirus infections aboard the Dutch expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina on 1 April 2026 carrying 197 international passengers. WHO, CDC and ECDC are coordinating the international response; the ship has since departed the Canary Islands en route to the Netherlands. Contact tracing remains active across additional countries. Live case, death and country counts are shown above and refresh hourly from D1.

Confirmed cases

Suspected

Deaths

30% case fatality

Countries affected

Tracing in 5

Geographic spread

Timeline

Most recent first. Curated milestones plus live news from around 50 sources, deduplicated.

May 7, 2026

WHO confirms 5 cases, 'not the next COVID'

Director-General Tedros: outbreak not start of an epidemic or pandemic. WHO ships 2,500 diagnostic kits to 5 countries and deploys an expert aboard the ship.
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May 5, 2026

Polymarket 'Hantavirus pandemic 2026' peaks at 38%

Prediction market spikes briefly amid alarm reports; total volume on the question crosses $1.3M.
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May 4, 2026

WHO opens Disease Outbreak News file (DON599)

First WHO statement on multi-country hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel.
Source →
Apr 24, 2026

30 passengers disembark at Saint Helena

Health officials begin global tracing operation as 30 individuals leave the ship at the remote South Atlantic island.
Source →
Apr 11, 2026

First death aboard

Dutch passenger dies five days after symptom onset. No samples taken at the time; hantavirus identified retroactively.
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Apr 6, 2026

First passenger develops symptoms

Initial symptoms noted but not identified as hantavirus at the time — clinical presentation overlapped with other viruses.
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Apr 1, 2026

MV Hondius departs Ushuaia

The Dutch expedition cruise ship leaves Ushuaia, Argentina with 197 passengers and crew aboard, bound for a transatlantic itinerary.
Source →
Nov 27, 2025

Index case begins 4-month South America trip

Argentine ministry of health later traces the patient zero through Chile, Uruguay, and northern Argentina between Nov 2025 and Apr 2026.
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Key facts

Index case traveled overland for 4 months across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay between Nov 2025 and Apr 2026.
Andes virus is the only hantavirus strain with documented person-to-person transmission, but only via close prolonged contact.
WHO assesses global risk as 'low' as of 7 May 2026.
ECDC assesses risk for general European population as 'very low'.
Passengers from 23 different countries were aboard; 17 Americans were among those still on the ship.
Mortality rate for Andes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome historically 30-40%.

Sources

Also see: MV Hondius Hantavirus Cluster 2026 — Outbreak Dataset (static schema.org Dataset page with WHO/CDC timeline).