Usually transmitted by rodents and not very contagious between humans, a hantavirus is now suspected of being the cause of a fatal outbreak on board a cruise ship, the MV Hondius, placed under high health surveillance off the coast of Cape Verde.
Published on: 05/04/2026 - 6:15 p.m. Modified on: 05/04/2026 - 7:18 p.m.
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It is a virus that is generally not transmissible between humans. On board the MV Hondius, a cruise ship linking southern Argentina to Cape Verde, several people were affected by a “public health event”, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday, May 3. Three died, specifies the WHO, which mentions a possible outbreak of hantavirus infection, one case having already been confirmed.
Hantavirus, a viral zoonosis transmitted by rodents to humans by inhalation of particles from the saliva, urine or dried excrement of these animals, can cause two serious illnesses, including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), rare, but with a mortality rate of around 40%, according to figures from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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A virus with multiple forms, depending on the region and the rodents
The hantavirus covers several dozen species or genotypes around the world, differing in their virulence to humans. Each hantavirus has a specific rodent host species (black rat, collared field mouse, bank vole, deer mouse, etc.) or a group of closely related host species.
🔎 Hantaviruses can be classified into two groups:
• Those from the “Old World”, which cause hemorrhagic fevers with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Europe and Asia.
• Those from the “New World”, responsible for hantavirus pulmonary syndromes (HPS), in the Americas.
Each of these two groups was associated with a family of rodents considered to be the natural reservoir: the muridae for viruses from the Old World (field mouse, black rat, or even gerbil, common in fields and forests) and the subfamily sigmodontidae for those from the New World (cotton rat, rice rat, or even American pygmy mouse, often linked to specific habitats such as wetlands).
Source: Anses
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), one of the serious illnesses caused by the virus, often begins with fatigue, fever and muscle pain, followed by headache, dizziness, chills and abdominal distress.
The second disease induced by hantavirus, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) – even more serious – mainly affects the kidneys. Symptoms may include hypotension, internal bleeding and acute kidney failure.
No specific curative treatment for hantavirus is available. Eliminating or minimizing contact with rodents is the best way to prevent infection, says the Pasteur Institute.
In February 2025, when Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their home in the state of New Mexico, analyzes revealed that the latter had succumbed to respiratory illness linked to hantavirus (HPS), the most widespread strain in the United States. Nests and dead rodents had been found in the outbuildings of his house.
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Confined space and human-to-human transmission
A report from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US national medical research agency, estimates that there are 150,000 cases of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) each year worldwide, mainly in Europe and Asia. More than half of these cases usually occur in China. However, Seoul virus, one of the main strains of hantavirus transmitted by brown rats (also known as sewer rats), is found throughout the world, including the United States.
Concerning hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), approximately 200 cases occur each year, mainly in North America and South America.
If this epidemic arouses concern, it is in particular because of the particular conditions which reign on cruise ships, confinement and the high population density facilitating the transmission of the virus.
“As mobile means of transportation, cruise ships can also spread viruses at ports of call, which may lead to stricter quarantine measures at affected docking locations,” Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based medical expert, told the Global Times.
“The risk of transmission of the hantavirus epidemic on this cruise ship is relatively manageable,” reassures the expert, however, adding that hantavirus is not a new strain. “In China, proven protocols to combat the virus, including identification, prevention and treatment, have been put in place. Therefore, there is no need to overestimate the risks of transmission.”
But above all, unlike Covid-19, the hantavirus is not usually transmitted between humans: it is therefore normally very difficult to spread the virus far from the initial source of infection.
“Instead of transmission from humans, rodents are the main culprits,” recalled Charles Patrick Davis, emergency physician, microbiology expert and author for the online medical journal MedicineNet in 2020.
“Hantaviruses complete their life cycle in rodents, but apparently without causing them any harm,” he said.
There were, however, some rare exceptions in South America, with Dr Davis citing "patients who were considered by researchers to have had human-to-human transmission of a type of [South American] hantavirus called 'Andes Virus'".
Faced with this situation, the WHO indicated new biological tests, a detailed epidemiological investigation and sequencing of the virus detected in the patient hospitalized in Johannesburg. This is to trace the source of infections and understand how an otherwise marginal virus could become the epicenter of a deadly outbreak at sea.
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