{"id":220657,"date":"2026-05-05T14:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220657\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:12:19","slug":"the-disgusting-terrifying-causes-of-mv-hondius-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220657\/","title":{"rendered":"The disgusting, terrifying causes of MV Hondius cruise ship hantavirus outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

The suspected hantavirus<\/a> outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship<\/a>, which has killed three people and sickened at least seven others, has two likely causes \u2014 and both are bad news for the 150 passengers on board, experts said.<\/p>\n

The more likely scenario would be passengers contracting the virus from the feces, urine or saliva of infected rats or mice.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the usual transmission vector, according to physician Zaid Fadul, a former Air Force flight surgeon \u2014 although the World Health Organization insisted Tuesday that no rodents have been found on the stranded liner.<\/p>\n

Health workers get off the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people, as it remains off Cape Verde on Monday, May 4, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 5, 2026.\u00a0 AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one strain of the hantavirus that has an alarming exception \u2014 and the one that the WHO conceded \u201ccan\u2019t be ruled out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Andes virus \u2014 that one specific subtype of the hantavirus \u2014 in Argentina, where they were, is the one that\u2019s transmitted person-to-person,\u201d Fadul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s where a lot of anxiety in this case is coming from.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MV Hondius cruise ship had departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on March 20 for its weeks-long \u201cAtlantic Odyssey\u201d voyage before the suspected hantavirus outbreak turned deadly.\u00a0 AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Andes hantavirus strain carries a mortality rate of nearly 40%, meaning a worst-case scenario could spiral quickly in a confined environment such as the 80-cabin, 353-foot ship, the doc explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why everyone is so scared,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The WHO confirmed Tuesday that it is the working theory, and that people may have been infected before boarding the ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that is happening among the really close contacts,\u201d said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO\u2019s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director.<\/p>\n

The Dutch cruise liner had departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on March 20 for its weeks-long \u201cAtlantic Odyssey\u201d voyage before the suspected hantavirus outbreak turned deadly.<\/p>\n

Three passengers have since died<\/a> \u2014 one confirmed from hantavirus \u2014 and another is fighting for his life, as the vessel with roughly 150 passengers remained stranded off West Africa on Monday.<\/p>\n

Authorities were working to evacuate two additional pick passengers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is the Andes virus \u2026 you\u2019ve got 150 people stuck on a cruise ship in close contact,\u201d warned Fadul, head of the doctors group Bespoke Concierge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, experts stress there\u2019s no reason to panic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Andes strain of the hantavirus \u2014 the only one to be spread through human-to-human contact \u2014 is found in the area of Argentina where MV Hondius cruise passengers have visited, Dr. Zaid Fadul told The Post. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cPrevention is the key,\u201d Fadul said, adding that \u201cgood hand hygiene, staying away from people\u201d and wearing a mask while around others could significantly reduce risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Health officials say a less terrifying explanation is far more likely: exposure to a rodent-borne strain, which is typically contracted by inhaling the virus from infected droppings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fadul doubts the source originated onboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have picked it up anywhere \u2014 I don\u2019t think it came from the ship,\u201d he said, noting that hantavirus can take weeks to show symptoms after exposure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have picked it up anywhere \u2014 I don\u2019t think it came from the ship,\u201d physician Zaid Fadul said, noting that hantavirus can take weeks to show symptoms after exposure.\u00a0 AP<\/p>\n

Other experts agree that the outbreak probably came from vermin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most likely situation is that people traveling from South America came in contact with infected rodents\u2019 dropping in this part of the world,\u201d said Giulia Gallo, a virus researcher with the Pirbright Institute in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, we cannot be sure where the contact happened: It might have been during touristic activities in the region, or infected rodents might have been present on the ship,\u201d Gallo said, the Science Media Centre reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All but one strain of the hantavirus is spread through contact with rodents, according to health experts. dpa\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The luxury cruise ship was refused permission to dock in the West African island nation of Cape Verde on Monday, after the boat had requested help from local health authorities following the latest death. <\/p>\n

Authorities in the country, which has a population of 500,000, said the decision was made as a precaution, citing the \u201caim of protecting national public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, no one has been allowed to disembark except those who need urgent medical care, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, the company operating the cruise ship.<\/p>\n

So far, no one has been allowed to disembark except those who need urgent medical care, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, the company operating the cruise ship. AP<\/p>\n

The company said it was \u201cmanaging a serious medical situation\u201d and looking into whether the ship could sail to the Canary Islands, about 1,000 miles northeast, so that passengers could be screened and allowed to leave the vessel.<\/p>\n

Gallo said the World Health Organization and other public health agencies will have to investigate the circumstances leading up to the three suspected hantavirus deaths on board the cruise ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be necessary to identify any potential source of infection on the ship, and trace back the journey of the patients, to know if they visited American regions where hantaviruses are reported,\u201d she told the outlet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The suspected hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which has killed three people and sickened at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16004,972,2953,9,11,10,3610,3611,1076],"class_list":["post-220657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cruises","tag-doctors","tag-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-public-health","tag-viruses","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}