As passengers in protective gear evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius off Spain's Canary Islands this weekend, the scenes evoked memories of COVID-19's early days. But health officials are pushing back against comparisons, emphasizing that hantavirus poses a fundamentally different threat.
The U.S. is preparing to receive American passengers aboard a medical repatriation flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where they will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Center. The CDC confirmed that none of the more than 140 remaining passengers show symptoms, though contact tracing is underway. Three people have died in the outbreak, and five infected passengers had already left the ship.
Officials at the CDC and WHO have repeatedly stated that the risk to the general public remains extremely low. WHO officials have downplayed pandemic concerns, noting key differences between hantavirus and the coronavirus that caused COVID-19.
“This is not COVID, this is not influenza,” said Dr. Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, during a press conference. She explained that while COVID-19 was a novel virus, hantavirus has been known for decades. The U.S. has tracked cases since a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region, which sickened over 50 people and killed about 30.
Through 2023, the CDC has recorded nearly 900 hantavirus cases nationwide—a tiny fraction of the millions of COVID cases seen during the pandemic. The primary reason for the low risk, experts say, is how the virus spreads. Hantavirus is typically transmitted through contact with rodents or their droppings, not through person-to-person airborne transmission like COVID-19.
However, the Andes strain identified on the cruise ship can spread between humans, but only through direct physical contact, exposure to bodily fluids, or prolonged time in close quarters. “We haven’t had huge person-to-person spreads of hantavirus infection ever before, and there’s no reason to suspect a huge outbreak from this case,” said Dr. Steven Bradfute, a hantavirus researcher at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.
CDC Acting Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya echoed that sentiment, stressing that the virus cannot be spread by asymptomatic individuals. The Andes virus is more commonly found in South America, and the current outbreak appears contained to the ship.
Public health experts advise that the best prevention is minimizing contact with rodents and using protective measures when cleaning droppings. The CDC has activated its lowest emergency level for the outbreak, signaling a limited response. Evacuations began over the weekend, with Spanish, French, Canadian, and other nationals leaving the ship.
While the images may be jarring, officials insist the situation is not a harbinger of a new pandemic. The combination of decades of data, limited transmission, and targeted containment measures means hantavirus is unlikely to spread beyond the current cluster.
