If you’ve booked a cruise this summer, you won’t be able to scroll past this story.
A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on board an Atlantic Ocean cruise ship has killed three passengers and left at least three others seriously ill — while 17 U.S. citizens are still stuck on board and unable to disembark.
What happened on the MV Hondius
The three deaths were cruise passengers on the MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged Oceanwide Expeditions ship currently anchored off Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, an island state off the west coast of Africa.
The ship left Ushuaia in Argentina about seven weeks ago and made stops in Antarctica and the remote British territory of St Helena before anchoring in Cape Verde. Passengers visited some of the world’s most remote destinations along the way, including islands rich in wildlife with whales, dolphins, penguins and seabirds.
Two of the passengers killed were identified as one married couple: a 70-year-old Dutch man and his 69-year-old wifewho collapsed at Johannesburg International Airport while trying to fly home and died at a local medical facility. A third death occurred on board. A British citizen with a confirmed hantavirus diagnosis is currently in intensive care in South Africa.
What is Hantavirus – and how concerned should you be?
Hantaviruses are usually spread by exposure to the urine, saliva, or feces of infected rodents such as rats or mice. Symptoms usually start with fatigue, fever and muscle aches, but can progress to coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest as the lungs fill with fluid. More than a third of patients who reach the respiratory stage may die from the syndrome.
A doctor who detects infectious diseases called the situation very unusual. “When I first read this, I thought they were making a misprint,” said Dr. Scott Miscovich, a general practitioner and president of Premier Medical Group, after news emerged of a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a ship that had not traveled anywhere where the virus is typically endemic.
The reassuring news: The World Health Organization said the outbreak does not pose a broad threat to public healthand no travel restrictions are necessary. Only one type of hantavirus — the Andean virus, found mainly in Chile and Argentina — is known to spread from person to person, and even that is rare.
What American cruise passengers need to know before boarding this summer
The seventeen Americans still on board cannot leave. Cape Verde’s health minister confirmed that passengers will not be allowed to disembark in the country, although local health authorities visited the ship and assessed two symptomatic crew members in need of urgent medical care.
This case doesn’t mean you have to cancel your cruise, but it is a useful reminder of what to look out for. Before a cruise departs, Check if your ship has had any recent health inspection issues through the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program at cdc.gov/nceh/vsp. The program rates ships after unannounced inspections and publishes the results publicly.
Know your hantavirus symptoms. If you develop fever, muscle aches and fatigue within one to five weeks of traveling to rural or remote areas (especially in South America), contact a doctor immediately and report your travel history. Early intervention is crucial.
Make sure your travel insurance covers medical evacuation. The MV Hondius case shows how quickly an emergency at sea can leave passengers stranded with no clear exit. Standard cruise line policies rarely cover the full cost of emergency medical transportation, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars.
The situation at MV Hondius has not yet been resolved this morning. WHO is actively coordinating a medical evacuation for the two symptomatic crew members still on board.
Sources: CNN, NPR, NBC News, WHO statement – May 3-4, 2026
