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Hantavirus live 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.
Key Headlines
- 1 hour and 22 minutes ago
- May 15, 2026, 7:58 PM PDT
- May 15, 2026, 1:54 PM PDT
- May 15, 2026, 12:25 PM PDT
- May 15, 2026, 12:07 PM PDT
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
US has no cases of Andes hantavirus
The U.S. currently has no cases of the Andes hantavirus, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a briefing Friday.
The Andes version of hantavirus does not pass easily between people, and requires close, prolonged exposure, said the CDC’s incident manager for hantavirus, Dr. David Fitter. The CDC only recommends testing symptomatic people, Fitter said.
He said anyone with high-risk exposure should follow strict quarantine protocols. He classified high-risk exposure as anyone who was still on the cruise ship between May 5 and May 10, as well as anyone who had close, prolonged contact with someone who has Andes hantavirus, including sitting on a plane near someone with hantavirus.
CDC officials said they will not offer any updates on the conditions of the 16 cruise ship passengers currently in quarantine in Nebraska, including if they are currently symptomatic, citing privacy.
-ABC News’ Eric Strauss
WHO hunts for hantavirus source
The World Health Organization is not considering declaring an international health emergency because the organization still believes the hantavirus outbreak is contained and the overall public risk remains low, WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove said on Friday.
The WHO said there's no evidence that the virus changed to become more transmissible or more severe.
An international study involving around 20 countries is being launched to better understand how long people stay infectious and how long the virus can stay detectable in the body, according to the WHO.
The WHO is also working with colleagues "in Argentina, in Chile, in Uruguay and around the world" to understand the origin of the hantavirus outbreak, Kerkhove said.
Kerkhove said the teams in Argentina are looking at the movements of the first cases and past hantavirus outbreaks in South America, including where the virus was found in humans and rodents.
She said this is "pure field epidemiology" and that WHO hopes to report more “very, very soon.”
WHO is also tracing people and possible exposures connected to Saint Helena, Chile, Uruguay and South Africa as the organization tries to piece together the route of the outbreak.
-ABC News’ Dada Jovanovic
American doctor who initially tested positive says further testing shows 'no evidence that I've had hantavirus'
The American doctor who was on the ship and initially tested positive has since tested negative and says "there's no evidence that I've had hantavirus."
A doctor from the biocontainment unit in Nebraska said the initial test was most likely a falsely positive, based on further testing.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld -- the only American to test positive for hantavirus -- came down with flu-like symptoms on the cruise ship, and on Monday he was admitted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center's biocontainment unit following a positive test, officials said. The Bend, Oregon, resident has since tested negative and was cleared to relocate to Nebraska's quarantine unit, where 15 other passengers from the cruise ship who do not have symptoms are being monitored.
"I physically feel great -- I have felt great for many, many days," Kornfeld told ABC News. "Emotionally I feel wonderful. It's nice to be negative for hantavirus."
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Scientists heading to Ushuaia to research if hantavirus was already there before MV Hondius departed
A team of Argentine scientists are planning to head to Ushuaia next week to conduct research to see if hantavirus was already there before the MV Hondius cruise ship departed on April 1, officials said.
The team will collect samples and send them to a lab. The results are expected to come back in about four weeks.
The World Health Organization has posited that the first infection likely happened on land before the ship even sailed. But local officials in Ushuaia say they are not convinced because they’ve never had a confirmed hantavirus case there.
“Its been 45 days since the ship left and we haven't had any cases,” said Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province.
-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic
12 quarantined staff members at Dutch hospital were not contagious to others, hospital says
Officials at Radboudumc hospital in the Netherlands say blood tests show that the 12 hospital employees placed in precautionary quarantine were not contagious to others.
The hospital said the chance of actual infection remains "very small," but the employees are continuing a six-week precautionary quarantine.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
41 people under monitoring for hantavirus across US, CDC says
There are 41 people under monitoring across the U.S. for potential hantavirus infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's incident manager for hantavirus, Dr. David Fitter, said in a phone call with reporters.
Those 41 people include: 16 people who were repatriated from the cruise ship and are under quarantine at a Nebraska facility; two who were repatriated from the cruise ship and are being monitored at an Atlanta facility; seven people who were former cruise ship passengers who left before the outbreak was declared; and 16 people who were exposed during travel, including on flights, officials said.
No Americans are positive for hantavirus at this time, officials said.
All 16 people in the Nebraska facility are recommended to stay for the entire 42-day period, officials said.
The remaining exposed people who are not at the quarantine facilities are recommended to stay at home, away from others, with an emphasis to avoid travel, officials said. These individuals are in touch with their state and local health departments and the CDC said it is in touch with those departments.
-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud
All close contact patients in France test negative, health minister says
The French government has been tracking 26 people who had close contacts with cruise ship passengers, and all of those people tested negative for hantavirus on Thursday, according to French Health Minister Stephanie Rist.
“As a precautionary measure against a disease whose lethality is estimated at between 30 and 40% and given the long incubation period -- evaluated today at 42 days -- these 26 individuals have all been placed in hospital isolation,” Rist said. “These 26 individuals will continue to be medically monitored and tested three times per week.”
Meanwhile, the one French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus remains in intensive care, Rist said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
3 in Kansas taken to hospital for observation after being exposed to hantavirus abroad
Three people in Kansas who have been under monitoring by the state's health department for potential hantavirus infection have been transported to a hospital for observation, a department spokesperson told ABC News.
It is not clear why they were transported and if any of the three have shown signs of symptoms.
Kansas’ health department initially announced on Tuesday that these three people -- who were not cruise ship passengers -- were exposed to an infected individual abroad. The department said their exposure was "high risk" and said at the time that they were not showing any signs of illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is "aware and monitoring closely," a spokesperson told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud
23 US residents under monitoring by 11 state health departments
North Dakota’s health department said it is monitoring five individuals who were exposed to a sick hantavirus cruise ship member abroad. None of these five people were on the cruise ship, the department said.
There are now 11 state health departments monitoring a total of at least 23 people, none of whom have symptoms.
The other states monitoring people are Texas, California, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, Kansas and Minnesota.
-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud
American doctor who initially tested positive moved from isolation after negative test
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, who identified himself as the first American who initially tested positive for hantavirus from samples taken on the cruise ship, has now tested negative in subsequent testing, he told ABC News.
The testing was originally listed as inconclusive per the World Health Organization because of a positive and negative test result returned from a Dutch lab. Health officials had proceeded with caution and labeled him as a positive case.
Kornfeld was moved from the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit to the National Quarantine Unit, alongside his fellow passengers, according to a statement from Nebraska Medicine.
-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Vera Drymon
CDC retesting American passenger who contracted virus
Officials with the U.S. Centers or Disease Control and Preventionupdated the public on the hantavirus situation and reiterated the risk to the U.S. population remains low.
Dr. David Fitter, the incident manager for CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters in a telephone news conference that the agency has over 100 staff working full time on the outbreak.
Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC team lead in Nebraska where some of the U.S. passengers of the MV Hondius are quarantining, said that the one passenger who tested positive did his tests abroad but they were inconclusive.
"We got a positive and a negative abroad, so we want to redo the test here in the U.S.," he said.
The CDC is awaiting the results of that new test, Jackson said.
-ABC News' Eric Strauss
American in quarantine gives video update
Jake Rosmarin, one of the American cruise patients currently quarantining in Nebraska, provided an update on his Instagram page Wednesday.
On his third day of quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit, Rosmarin showed off his thermometer used to take his temperature, his breakfast and his daily routine.
"One thing I really want to emphasize is how kind everyone here has been. The staff truly want to make sure we are as comfortable and cared for as possible during all of this. They even asked me what Starbucks I’d want and said they were hopefully going to get one delivered to me again today," he wrote in the post.
-ABC News' Matt Foster
American doctor who tested positive speaks out from quarantine
Dr. Steve Kornfeld, a physician who was onboard the MV Hondius and stepped in when the ship's physician contracted the virus, opened up about his own quarantine in Nebraska.
Speaking to CNN, Kornfeld talked about being in the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after he too tested positive for the hantavirus.
After experiencing "night sweats, chills and mild respiratory symptoms, as well as more than two weeks of severe fatigue," he told CNN that he is experiencing no symptoms and is in good spirits.
Kornfeld added that the time is passing quickly and he's spending a lot of time on WhatsApp.
Minnesota monitoring person 'potentially exposed' to hantavirus, Health Department says
The Minnesota Department of Health said it’s monitoring the condition of a person who "may have briefly been exposed overseas" to another person who tested positive for hantavirus after being on board the MV Hondius.
"MDH is in contact with the person who was exposed," the department said in a statement on Tuesday. "They have been very cooperative, and we are monitoring them daily for symptoms. The person does not currently have symptoms. MDH will not release any additional information on the person to protect their privacy."
-ABC News’ Jessica Gorman
Potential hantavirus case in Illinois not related to ship outbreak, health officials say
The Illinois Department of Health said Tuesday it is investigating a potential case of hantavirus in a Winnebago County resident that is not connected to the MV Hondius outbreak.
"The resident lives in Winnebago County, has not travelled internationally, and has not come in contact with individuals associated with the MV Hondius outbreak," the health department said in a statement. "They are suspected to have acquired a North American strain of the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present."
The individual experienced mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. The health department said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on additional testing to confirm if it is a hantavirus case.
Unlike the strain of hantavirus in the cruise outbreak, the North American strains are not known to spread from person-to-person, health officials said.
American quarantining in Nebraska shares video tour of his room
Jake Rosmarin, who is among the 15 hantavirus-negative passengers quarantining at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after disembarking the MV Hondius cruise ship, shared a video tour of his room on Instagram on Tuesday.
Rosmarin showed off his stationary bike, TV, bed, recliner and desk, saying, “The room is very spacious and comfortable.”
“I’m hoping to give more updates while I’m here. I’m feeling well,” he said.
Rosmarin told ABC News earlier on Tuesday that he is not experiencing any symptoms and plans on remaining in quarantine for the next 42 days.
"I think that is the best decision that's for me and for my family, and I know that here, I'm in the best care possible," Rosmarin said.
Passengers in Nebraska undergoing in-depth interviews, symptom monitoring
Fifteen passengers remain in the quarantine unit and one person remains in the biocontainment unit at Nebraska Medicine, hospital officials said.
The passengers are undergoing in-depth interviews to trace their contacts as well as regular symptom monitoring, officials said.
2 people being monitored in Seattle area
Two residents of King County, Washington, are being monitored at home after potentially being exposed to hantavirus, the Seattle and King County Public Health Department said.
The two residents sat on a plane near an ill passenger from the cruise ship; that passenger was removed from the plane and later tested positive, officials said.
The two residents don’t have symptoms and are being monitored, officials said.
"Currently, no one in King County has symptoms of hantavirus and there are no cases of the virus in King County," the health department said. "The risk to the public remains low."
A resident of King County is also among the cruise ship passengers now being monitored at the quarantine center in Nebraska, the officials added.
25 crew, 2 medical staff remain on ship; no one has symptoms
Twenty-five crew members and two medical staffers remain on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which is en route to the Netherlands, Oceanwide Expedition said.
No one on board has hantavirus symptoms but the “medical staff will continue to monitor throughout the remainder of the voyage,” Oceanwide Expedition said.
The ship is expected to arrive on Sunday or Monday. The crew members will follow quarantine procedures when they disembark, Oceanwide Expedition said.
Positive patient in France presenting 'severe form,' in 'serious condition'
The French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus “is presenting a severe form and is currently in intensive care in a serious condition,” French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said in French at a news conference on Tuesday.
She "has the most severe form of cardiopulmonary presentation, and she is receiving what is called, or rather what is the final stage of supportive care: extracorporeal circulation for artificial oxygenation," Risk said. "She has a lung-machine, a blood diversion, which we hope will allow her to get through this difficult period while her lung, which is being attacked by this virus and the damage to the vascular wall, recovers."
The other four French nationals who were taken off the ship were hospitalized for monitoring and they tested negative and "are doing well," she said.
Rist stressed that only people who were on the ship have tested positive.
Through contact tracing, Rist said “eight French nationals were identified on the flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg. A second flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam was carrying French nationals with a lower level of risk, in so far as a patient was present but was rapidly disembarked, which limited the exposure of travelers.”
“In total, 22 contact cases have been identified in France,” she said. “They have all been contacted, tested, hospitalized or are in the process of being hospitalized and are subject to rigorous health monitoring.”
-ABC News’ Othon Leyva
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