American and French citizens removed from cruise ship test positive for hantavirus

2026-05-11 15:34:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

American and French citizens removed from cruise ship test positive for

An American and a Frenchman who returned to their home countries after disembarking from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, authorities say.

A total of seven cases of hantavirus linked to MV Hondius have been confirmed, with two more suspected cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

The US health department said a second American citizen on the repatriation flight had also shown mild symptoms, adding that both passengers had been returned to "bio-containment units out of an abundance of caution."

French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a woman was in isolation in Paris and her health was deteriorating, with 22 contacts being traced.

Three passengers have died after traveling on the ship, two of whom were confirmed to have the virus.

The WHO said the person believed to have been the first to be infected during the virus outbreak died before he could be tested.

Two other British nationals with confirmed cases are currently being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Hantaviruses are usually spread by rodents, but transmission to humans of the Andean strain - which the World Health Organization (WHO) believes was contracted by some of the passengers of the Dutch ship while it was in South America - is possible.

Symptoms may include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and shortness of breath.

Officials say the risk of a major eruption is very low.

More than 90 passengers of the MV Hondius ship, currently anchored in Spain's Canary Islands, are being repatriated.

In their latest update from Tenerife on Monday, Spanish officials said 54 passengers and crew were still on board the ship. Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said six of them were passengers: four Australians, one Briton and one New Zealander.

About 22 people would disembark from the ship to fly to the Netherlands on Monday, she said - including Australians who were expected to return home directly, but whose plane could not be guaranteed to arrive on time.

She said the MV Hondius was expected to depart for the Netherlands later on Monday.

Meanwhile, four Canadian passengers landed in Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday evening after traveling on a charter flight from Tenerife to Bagotville, Quebec. Authorities said they will self-isolate and be monitored for at least three weeks.

In a statement early Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said all 17 U.S. citizens on Sunday's flight would undergo "clinical evaluation" at a medical facility in Nebraska. A British citizen living in the U.S. was also repatriated with them.

Seven other American passengers had already returned home and were being monitored in their home countries.

Before the American case was confirmed, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the US decision not to follow his organization's guidance on the hantavirus outbreak "could have risks."

The WHO has recommended 42 days of isolation for those leaving the MV Hondius.

But Dr Jay Bhattacharya, the acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), said he did not want to cause public panic, insisting that human-to-human transmission was rare and should not be treated like the Covid virus.

Passengers of the cruise ship were photographed wearing blue dresses, long hats and medical masks as they disembarked at the port of Grandilla de Abona in Tenerife on Sunday.

On Sunday, a plane carrying 20 British citizens arrived in the United Kingdom./CNA, translated by BBC