World4 min(s) read
Published 12:47 05 May 2026 GMT
Three people have died as a result of a hantavirus outbreak on board a cruise ship making its way through the Atlantic Ocean.
Luxury Dutch cruise liner, MV Hondius, is housing an estimated 150 people who are stuck following the deaths of a Dutch couple and a German national, following the outbreak of a suspected rodent-borne illness.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that three people remain mysteriously ill on board the cruise, as many have attributed the illnesses to a possible Hantavirus outbreak.
Passengers have posted about their own experiences online too, outlining how worried they are about the health-related crisis spiralling out of control.
It has also been reported that one person is receiving intensive care at a South African medical facility.
The United Nations' health agency is said to be working with local authorities to safely evacuate two more symptomatic passengers from the ship.
According to Mayo Clinic, the illness produces specific symptom patterns which can trigger hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) or Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
Both of these can prove fatal if untreated, with the virus primarily being transmitted via contact with rodents, when humans are exposed to their urine, feces, or saliva - if infected.
HPS is most commonly spread by rat and mouse feces, which can come into contact with humans when clearing out rat-infested rooms or spaces.
Those who end up contracting the virus will usually start experiencing symptoms within one to eight weeks.
These symptoms can include fatigue, fever, and muscle aches, often felt in major muscle groups such as the thighs, hips, back, and even the shoulders.
Other reported symptoms have been listed as headaches, dizziness, chills, and gastrointestinal issues, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
.jpg_FuOBeC?tr=cr-0.0.683.512,f-webp,q-70,w-1024)
Larry Gostin, the Director at WHO Centre on Global Health Law, told Sky News: I would be worried because the incubation period for hantavirus can be up to a week, it can be very deadly.
"It can either take the form of a pulmonary disease, so it affects your lungs and your breathing, or it can be a hemorrhagic disease, [which] affects your renal function and your kidney function."
Speaking more about its severity, he added: "Both can be extraordinarily serious. It's not easily spread from person to person.
"The mode of transmission is really through exposure to the rodent droppings or their urine, or those droppings can be disturbed and they go in the air and you can breathe it in and get it."
He said that anyone in the area of a rat dropping could be exposed, though Gostin explained: "But if it's the pulmonary form, it's difficulty breathing for both, fatigue, headache.
"It is a very dangerous situation for cruise ship passengers. I would be worried because the incubation period for hantavirus can be up to a week.
"It's possible that more cases will arise, and it's uncertain at this stage what preventive and precaution measures the cruise ship undertook," the health expert harrowingly admitted.
Gostin concluded: "There's no antiviral or so-called cure, but you need really intense management of the disease.
"You need to get somebody into really intensive care quite quickly -this is something that really shouldn't happen on a properly sanitized and hygienic ship," the health expert claimed.
Four to 10 days after infection, advanced HPS symptoms appear, including coughing and shortness of breath, and chest tightness as fluid builds in the lungs.
An estimated 38% of people who experience respiratory problems from HPS lose their life to the disease.
