What You Need To Know About The Hantavirus Outbreak

News of an outbreak of a rodent-borne illness on a cruise ship—with six Canadians onboard—has dominated the headlines recently. Here’s what you need to know about the virus, how it’s transmitted and how the outbreak is being managed.

How the hantavirus outbreak started

The outbreak began on April 1 when the Dutch luxury cruise liner, the MV Hondius, departed from Argentina on a weeks-long journey toward Spain with about 150 people onboard. About a week into the ship’s journey, one male passenger, a Dutch national, became ill with what is now suspected to be the first case of hantavirus. He later died. His wife became ill with a confirmed case of hantavirus a few days later and was transported to hospital. She, too, later died.

A total of nine cases have been confirmed so far by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a total of three people, the Dutch couple and a German woman, have died since the outbreak began.

How did the virus make it on the ship?

The first two passengers to become ill onboard had previously travelled for four months through the countries of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. There is some speculation that they were exposed to hantavirus during a bird-watching trip in Ushuaia, Argentina, during that time, though officials are reportedly still investigating that idea. (Hantavirus killed 28 people in Argentina last year, and according to reports from Argentina’s health ministry incidences of the illness have nearly doubled since June 2025.)

What kind of hantavirus struck the cruise?

There are many different forms of hantavirus globally. Humans are exposed to hantavirus via exposure to infected rodent droppings, urine or saliva. Early symptoms of infection include fever, nausea and vomiting, and that can rapidly progress to affect the lungs, the heart and kidneys. Some cases can even lead to hemorrhagic fever.

The variant that the Dutch couple contracted and brought onboard, called the Andes variant, is of concern because this form has been known to transmit between human beings who have been in close personal contact with an infected person.

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But there are important caveats to keep in mind, says Raywat Deonandan, and epidemiologist and professor at the University of Ottawa. “This is not a super-spreader event,” he says. Unlike measles or COVID-19, hantavirus appears to demand close personal contact to spread from one person to another.

“Sharing a room with somebody for a few minutes is not going to do it,” he says. But if a person coughs in your face and you swallow those droplets or if you exchange bodily fluids with an infected person, the risk of infection goes up.

For those exposed, it is a serious concern as the virus can have a lengthy incubation period (up to eight weeks), has a high fatality rate (with estimates between 30 and 50 percent), no vaccine and no known treatments. Early treatment is considered key in achieving better outcomes for people infected.

What makes this hantavirus outbreak unique

According to the WHO, this represents the first time there has been an outbreak of the Andes variant of the hantavirus on a cruise ship. The international makeup of the passengers—there were people from 28 countries onboard, including six Canadians—also makes the job of dealing with the outbreak a global effort.

Fortunately, says Deonandan, that cooperation between global public health authorities is happening. The outbreak is being managed by the WHO in coordination with the nations who are accepting exposed passengers back home.

“We know who the exposed people were—they’re all on that boat,” he says. “And the countries have identified them all, and they’re being monitored. So, they are not going to be willy-nilly running around the community infecting people.”

Where are Canadian passengers from the MV Hondius now?

Earlier this week, all the cruise ship’s passengers were repatriated back to their home countries.

Of the six Canadians who were onboard or who were onboard at one point, all have returned home. Four of them are isolating in B.C., and two are isolating in Ontario.

CBC reports an additional six Canadians who may have come in contact with possible cases during flights are also self-isolating in Alberta, Quebec and Ontario.

Deonandan emphasizes that those people are likely highly motivated to be monitored by public health given the seriousness of the virus. “Those people would be scared and would want to be monitored for symptoms,” he says.

Does this hantavirus outbreak represent a global health risk on par with COVID?

The WHO says the outbreak, while serious for those passengers who have become ill or for passengers currently isolating, does not rise to the level of a pandemic-level threat.

In a news conference last week, WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the overall public health risk is “low.” The Public Health Agency of Canada also says the overall risk of the onward spread in Canada is low.

That doesn’t mean there won't be more cases. On May 12, the Ghebreyesus said there could be more cases because of the virus’s longer incubation period and he urged nations accepting passengers to adhere to protective, supportive protocols for those exposed.

Deonandan agrees that Canadians should not be worried that this threat is akin to that experienced in March 2020.

“The people who should be most concerned about risk right now are the passengers and crew of the MV Hondius,” he says.

Should Canadians be worried about hantavirus?

While the Andes variant is not native to Canada, there are roughly four to five cases of the Sin Nombre variant of hantavirus in Canada each year, according to PHAC. In Canada, five kinds of rodents account for that disease: the deer mouse, cotton rat, rice rat, white-footed mouse and red-backed vole. Cases are more likely to occur in rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Rodent control and hygienic disposal of rodent droppings—wearing a filtered masks and gloves, ventilating enclosed spaces before cleaning and cleaning areas with appropriate bleach or disinfectants—is advised to reduce your risk of getting sick.

And while the outbreak represents a tragedy for the loved ones of those three people who have died, Deonandan emphasizes that this incident also reflects how the global heating that characterizes climate change is increasing exposures to once-rare viruses.

“That should be part of the story here, too,” he says.