Where Things Stand

As of May 15, 2026, the World Health Organization has revised the total number of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship to 10 — eight confirmed through laboratory testing and two classified as probable. Three people have died. No further deaths have been reported since May 2.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated plainly: "The WHO repeats that the risk from this event to the global population is low."

In the United States, the CDC is monitoring 41 people for potential hantavirus exposure linked to the Hondius. As of May 16, there are no confirmed cases of hantavirus on US soil.

The Nebraska Facility

Eighteen American passengers are currently being monitored at the National Quarantine Unit (NQU) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Two more passengers arrived Friday after being transferred from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where they had been assessed since returning from the Canary Islands. One had been admitted to Emory's biocontainment unit with mild symptoms but tested negative for hantavirus; the other was an asymptomatic close contact.

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld — a retired oncologist from Bend, Oregon, who had been in UNMC's biocontainment unit after testing "faintly positive" — has since tested negative and been moved to the general quarantine unit alongside the other 15 passengers. None are reporting symptoms. "I feel great," Kornfeld told CNN. "I feel wonderful, 100%."

The Nebraska facility developed its own Andes virus diagnostic test within days of being notified it would receive passengers — filling a gap in US clinical testing infrastructure that the outbreak exposed. For background on how hantavirus testing works and what current limitations exist, see our dedicated guide.

10 States Now Monitoring

Health officials in 10 states are currently monitoring residents who may have had exposure linked to the cruise ship: Arizona, California, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

None of the states have reported confirmed cases. The monitoring is based on varying levels of exposure — some individuals were passengers; others were on commercial flights with confirmed cases or had brief contact with someone who later tested positive.

The CDC considers the risk to the general US public to remain low. As CDC incident manager Dr. David Fitter noted during a media briefing: "This is not a novel virus. This is a known virus. We've seen this in the United States before and we know how to respond to it."

A Separate New York Case

New York State health officials are separately investigating a suspected hantavirus case at Geneva High School in Ontario County — in the Finger Lakes region — that the school district confirmed this week.

Acting Commissioner of Health Dr. James V. McDonald stated that this case is believed to be locally acquired and is not connected to the international outbreak. The strain involved is unrelated to the Andes virus on the Hondius.

This distinction matters. The Andes virus — responsible for the Hondius outbreak — is the only hantavirus strain with documented human-to-human transmission, and it is native to South America. The hantavirus strains circulating in the United States are spread through contact with infected rodents, not between people. The virus detected in North American cases, including any locally acquired case in New York, follows the standard transmission route: exposure to the droppings, urine, or saliva of infected rodents such as deer mice.

International Cases

Outside the US, the picture is more serious in some countries.

A French woman who traveled aboard the Hondius is on life support at Bichat Hospital in Paris, connected to an artificial lung (ECMO) to relieve pressure on her heart and lungs. Her condition had deteriorated in the days following her return.

In the Netherlands, 12 hospital staff at Radboudumc in Nijmegen were placed in precautionary quarantine for six weeks after blood and urine from a Hondius patient were handled without following the strictest infection-control protocols. Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans called the infection risk "very low" but said the hospital chose to act conservatively given the severity of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

In Italy, four people who had been under observation — including an Argentine tourist hospitalized with pneumonia, a man from Calabria who had been in voluntary isolation, and two British tourists — all tested negative.

The Andes Virus Is Not New to the US

The US has prior experience with Andes virus contact tracing. In 2018, a woman in Delaware who had traveled to Chile and Argentina developed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and recovered after supportive care. The CDC contact-traced 53 people across six states. No one became symptomatic.

Dr. Syra Madad, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Harvard Belfer Center, cited that case as evidence of what a disciplined US public health response can contain.

Hantavirus in the US: The Baseline

The Hondius outbreak has prompted broad media coverage, but the baseline US hantavirus situation is worth keeping in context. Since CDC surveillance began in 1993, there have been an average of about 29 cases per year. The virus has a case fatality rate of approximately 35%. Cases are concentrated in the western United States — 94% of all cases reported between 1993 and 2023 were west of the Mississippi River — because the virus thrives in the arid, open habitats where deer mice and other carrier rodents are most common.

For a full picture of where cases have occurred, see hantavirus cases by state.

What the Outbreak Does and Does Not Mean

The Hondius event is unusual for a specific reason: Andes virus, native to South America, is the only hantavirus with documented person-to-person transmission. That characteristic is what drove the 42-day quarantine protocols and the multi-state monitoring effort.

For people in the United States who have no connection to the cruise ship, the risk profile has not changed. The hantavirus strains circulating in North America spread through disturbing rodent droppings and nesting material in enclosed spaces — not through contact with other people. If you've been in a rodent-contaminated environment and develop fever, muscle aches, or respiratory symptoms in the following weeks, those are the signs to watch for and the circumstances that warrant contacting a doctor.

The WHO's assessment remains unchanged: the global risk from this outbreak is low. The passengers still in quarantine could begin clearing in late June, as the 42-day clock started May 11.

Hondius Hantavirus Update: WHO Confirms 10 Cases, No US Infections, Global Risk Remains Low