CANARY ISLANDS – Federal health officials are monitoring a rare hantavirus outbreak linked to the M/V Hondius cruise ship, but they are not treating the situation as a broad public health emergency or warning of an expanded outbreak.
The ship is now located near Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where passengers are being screened and repatriated under strict public health protocols. Reuters reported Sunday that European health officials are treating all passengers aboard the vessel as high-risk contacts as a precaution while they disembark and return to their home countries through arranged transport rather than commercial travel.
No one from Maine has been publicly reported to be among the passengers connected to the outbreak.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the risk to the American public remains “extremely low,” even as federal officials continue to monitor the situation. The CDC has classified the response as a Level 3 emergency activation, the agency’s lowest emergency response level.
That distinction matters.
Federal officials do not appear to be warning Americans that this is another flu, COVID-style outbreak, or fast-spreading respiratory virus. The concern is tied to a specific cruise ship cluster involving the Andes strain of hantavirus, which is rare but notable because it can spread between people in limited circumstances involving close, prolonged contact.
The World Health Organization reported that eight cases have been linked to the ship, including three deaths. As of May 8, six cases had been confirmed as Andes virus, according to WHO’s update on the multi-country cluster.
The M/V Hondius had previously been off Cape Verde before making its way to Tenerife, where Spanish and international health authorities are coordinating passenger screening, quarantine arrangements, and repatriation. Passengers began evacuating from the ship in Tenerife on Sunday under isolation protocols.
American passengers connected to the ship are expected to be monitored through the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, a facility designed to handle high-consequence infectious disease situations. The use of the Nebraska facility reflects the federal government’s cautious approach, not evidence of a broader outbreak.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses primarily spread by rodents. People are most commonly infected when they breathe in air contaminated by the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected mice or rats. In North America, the deer mouse is the most common carrier.
Most hantavirus cases are not spread from person to person. The Andes strain, which is associated with parts of South America, is the exception, but even then transmission is considered rare and generally requires close, prolonged exposure.
That means this is not believed to be a casual-contact threat to the general public.
Hantavirus infection can be severe. In the Americas, it can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which often begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and muscle aches before rapidly progressing to serious breathing problems. Other hantavirus illnesses, more common in Europe and Asia, can affect the kidneys and cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
There is no specific cure, vaccine, or antiviral medication for hantavirus. Treatment generally involves early supportive care, often in an intensive care unit, including oxygen support, intubation, or advanced heart-lung support in the most serious cases.
Public health officials say prevention remains focused on avoiding exposure to rodents and contaminated dust. People cleaning cabins, sheds, barns, garages, or other areas where rodents may have been present should avoid sweeping or vacuuming droppings, which can push contaminated particles into the air. Instead, contaminated areas should be wet down with disinfectant or a bleach solution before being cleaned with gloves.
For Maine residents, there is currently no reported direct connection to the cruise ship outbreak. The ship is thousands of miles away in the Canary Islands, passengers are being handled under controlled public health protocols, and federal officials continue to say the risk to the American public remains extremely low.
I wonder how much the passengers paid for a cruise on a plague ship…