Hantavirus updates: Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus 

All of the 18 American ship passengers are at the Nebraska quarantine facility.

The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship stands at 11, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.

No cases of Andes hantavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. The eighteen American ship passengers are being monitored at the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

May 8, 10:44 am

What is hantavirus and how does it spread?

Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:

What is hantavirus?

Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.

Stock photo of a colorized electron micrograph of the Hantavirus.
Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Lib/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

How does hantavirus spread?

Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.

Read more about hantavirus here.

May 17, 2026, 2:35 PM EDT

Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus

A Canadian that was one of the four passengers from the MV Hondius repatriated to the country has tested positive for hantavirus, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The person was previously transported to the hospital Thursday along with their partner, who also was a cruise ship passenger, the agency said in a Saturday statement. Both displayed hantavirus symptoms but the partner has tested negative so far, the agency said in a Sunday update, adding that both people remain hospitalized in isolation.

"There have been no further cases identified at this time. All high-risk contacts are isolating and will continue to be monitored closely by local public health," the statement Sunday further said.

This brings the total number of hantavirus cases connected to the MV Hondius to 11.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

May 15, 2026, 10:58 PM EDT

Health officials in Washington state tracking hantavirus case unrelated to cruise ship

Washington health officials Friday night said they were tracking a hantavirus case that is unrelated to the cruise ship outbreak.

The person was infected after exposure to a rodent, the Washington State Department of Health said in a news release. The person was infected with a strain of hantavirus that does not spread person to person, the health department said.

Separately, the department said it is aware of six people that were former cruise ship passengers or exposed to an infected cruise ship passenger on a flight -- part of the 41 people across the country under monitoring for potential infection. None have shown any signs of illness.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

May 15, 2026, 4:54 PM EDT

2 cruise ship passengers originally in Atlanta now at Nebraska quarantine facility

The two repatriated cruise ship passengers who were being monitored at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta have now been transferred to the quarantine facility in Nebraska, according to Nebraska Medicine.

Now all of the 18 American ship passengers are under monitoring at the Nebraska quarantine unit.

May 15, 2026, 3:25 PM EDT

Suspected hantavirus case at upstate New York high school, not linked to cruise ship

Officials in Ontario County in upstate New York said they're “investigating a suspected locally acquired hantavirus case” involving a Geneva High School student. Geneva is about 45 miles southeast of Rochester.

The Ontario County Public Health Department stressed that the case is not linked to the cruise ship and “there is no risk to the general public.” Hantavirus strains in the U.S. don’t spread from person-to-person, the health department said, and is only “spread through mouse and rodent droppings, especially when urine, feces, or nesting materials become aerosolized during cleaning."

The Geneva City School District said "there is no evidence of risk to other students or staff."

The school district said it's "continuing to work closely with the Ontario County Department of Health and will continue to follow any guidance provided by public health officials."

-ABC News’ Matt Foster

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