U.S. Health Officials Monitoring Hantavirus Cruise Passengers: What To Know In New York

Health officials in three states — Arizona, California and Georgia — are tracking passengers who left a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak without contact tracing nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board, the ship's operator and Dutch officials said Thursday.

The first thing New York residents need to know is there’s no need to panic. Health experts say the risk to the general American public remains extremely low. It doesn’t spread rapidly like COVID-19, and it is typically linked to direct rodent contact.

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Health authorities in at least four continents are now tracking down and in some cases monitoring the cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then. Symptoms can incubate for up to six weeks.

Three people have died in the outbreak, including a Dutch man who fell on the ship and died April 11, and his wife, who died at a hospital in Johannesburg who briefly boarded a plane, but was too ill to fly. A German woman also succumbed to the virus.

Here’s what New York residents need to know:

The Risk Is Low, But …

World Health Organization officials say the risk to the wider public is low because hantavirus — usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings — isn’t easily transmitted between people.

“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries,” said Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO's alert and response director.

Still, a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger in South Africa was showing symptoms of hantavirus and would be tested in an isolation ward at a hospital in Amsterdam, the Dutch Ministry said Thursday.

The cruise passenger, also a Dutch woman, was too ill to fly and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.

If the woman tests positive, she could be the first known person not on the MV Hondius to become infected in the outbreak.

What Hantaviruses Spread Human-To-Human?

Tests have confirmed that at least five people who were on the ship were infected with a hantavirus found in South America, called the Andes virus. The only hantavirus thought to spread human-to-human, it can cause a severe and often fatal lung disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Argentina's health ministry said there were 28 deaths from hantavirus last year, up from an average mortality rate of 15 in the five years before that. Nearly a third of cases last year were fatal, it said.

The ship departed from Argentina, and investigations into the source of the outbreak are focusing on that country.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday a couple that presented the first two cases had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip before boarding the ship. They visited sites where the species of rat that is known to carry Andes virus was present, he said.

The WHO is working with health authorities in Argentina to understand their movements, and that the WHO had arranged for shipping 2,500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to laboratories in five countries.

What Is Known About U.S. Monitoring?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the travelers are being observed for possible symptoms, though none had reported illnesses as of Thursday, Reuters reported.

Georgia health officials said two residents were under monitoring, while Arizona reported one passenger and California disclosed an unspecified number of residents being tracked.

How Common Is Hantavirus?

Hantavirus is relatively rare, with fewer than a thousand people infected every year, but about a third of cases result in death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The death of Betsy Arakawa, wife of actor Gene Hackman, in February 2025 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome significantly increased public awareness of the rare disease. That same year, three people in the rural California town of Mammoth Lakes died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

How Many Passengers Still On Board?

Several other passengers were sickened in the outbreak. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions said Thursday that 46 people from 23 different countries are still aboard its vessel under “strict precautionary measure.”

However, none of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship are currently symptomatic, WHO officials said Thursday.

Three people, including the ship's doctor, were evacuated Wednesday while the ship was near the West African island country of Cape Verde and taken to specialized hospitals in Europe for treatment.

How Is The Investigation Progressing?

Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions said 29 passengers disembarked at St. Helena on April 24, though the Dutch Foreign Ministry estimated the number was closer to 40.

The WHO said the first confirmed case tied to the ship was identified May 2 in a British man who had been evacuated from the vessel to South Africa from Ascension Island days earlier. He tested positive for hantavirus in South Africa and remains in intensive care. Swiss authorities also confirmed a positive case in a man who left the ship at St. Helena, though his travel route afterward remains unclear.

Singapore health officials said two men who disembarked at St. Helena and later flew home through South Africa are being isolated and tested. One reported mild cold-like symptoms while the other had none. In Britain, two former passengers are self-isolating despite showing no symptoms, and some of their contacts are also quarantining as a precaution.

Officials in St. Helena are monitoring several people considered high-risk contacts and have advised them to isolate themselves for 45 days. South African authorities are tracing passengers and contacts linked to an April 25 flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg. Meanwhile, the ship continues toward Spain’s Canary Islands with more than 140 passengers and crew still aboard. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said morale on the vessel has improved since it resumed sailing.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.