The scope of the outbreak of a cruise ship hantavirus infection should “remain contained” if public health measures are implemented and if countries show “solidarity”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today (Thursday, 07 May 2026), but estimated that more outbreaks are “likely”.
The cruise ship MV Hondius, making the voyage from Argentina to Cape Verde, has been in the international spotlight since the World Health Organization announced on May 4 that three passengers had died and that the suspected cause was hantavirus.
Six years after Covid, the WHO nonetheless appears reassured about this outbreak of a chantavirus infection that can cause acute respiratory syndrome.
“This is not the start of an epidemic, it’s not the start of a pandemic, but it’s the perfect opportunity to remind us that investment in research on pathogens like this is vital, as treatments, detection tests and vaccines save lives,” Maria Van Kercow, who heads the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness, told reporters in Geneva.
“It’s not about Covid, it’s not about flu. The transmission is very different,” she added.
“We believe” that this episode “will remain contained if public health measures are implemented and if all countries show solidarity,” said for his part Abdirrahman Mahamud, director of operations at the WHO’s Department of Alert and Emergency Health Response.
For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Yebreyes said that “although this is a serious incident, the WHO assesses that the risk to public health is low.”
The officials made these statements during the first press conference organised by the WHO since the beginning of this crisis.
Five confirmed cases
“To date, eight cases have been reported, of which three have resulted in death. Five of these eight cases have been confirmed to be due to hantavirus,” said Tedros.
“Considering the incubation period of the (Andean strain) virus, which can be as long as six weeks, more cases are likely to be reported,” he added.
There is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment against the virus, which can be transmitted through contact with rodents and whose Andean strain, found in infected passengers, is the only one known to have human-to-human transmission cases.
The MV Hondius, which has been cruising the Atlantic since April 1, is en route from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands, where the 150 or so remaining passengers and crew members will be monitored before they are allowed to board the plane to return home.
No one now has symptoms on board, according to the cruise company, Oceanwide Expeditions. WHO confirms: “There is no passenger or crew member who is symptomatic on board the ship, which is encouraging,” Van Kercove stressed.
The company had announced earlier on Thursday that thirty passengers, including the body of the first man to die, left the cruise at a stopover on April 24 on the British island of St Helena.
The WHO “informed the 12 countries whose citizens disembarked on St Helena. These 12 countries are Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and the US,” the WHO chief said.
“Regular contact with the captain”
He also announced that Argentina is sending about 2,500 kits to five countries to detect the chantavirus.
The three passengers who have died since the cruise began are a German woman and a Dutch couple who had been travelling for months in South America.
The three passengers who have died since the cruise began are a German woman and a Dutch couple who had been travelling for months in South America.
The couple toured Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and again in Argentina in late March, according to Argentine health authorities.
The pair had toured Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and again in Argentina in late March, according to Argentine health authorities.
They travelled as part of a “bird-watching stay, which included visits to places where the rat species known to carry the Andean virus is present,” the WHO chief explained.
The MV Hondius is expected this weekend (09.05.2026 – 10.05.2026) in the Canary Islands (Spain). Tedros explained that he is in “regular contact with the captain of the ship, as he did this morning.”
“He told me that morale has clearly improved since the ship resumed its voyage. I thank him for all he has done to protect the people in his charge,” he said.
