The Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses that naturally infect rodents and are occasionally transmitted to humans. Infection in people can result in severe illness and often death, although the diseases vary by type of virus and geographical location.
In the Americas, infection has been known to lead to hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a rapidly progressive condition affecting the lungs and heart, while in Europe and Asia hantaviruses have been known to cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which primarily affects the kidneys and blood vessels.
While there is no specific treatment that cures hantavirus diseases, early supportive medical care is key to improve survival and focuses on close clinical monitoring and management of respiratory, cardiac and kidney complications. Prevention depends largely on reducing contacts between people and infected rodents.
Recent outbreaks:
On May 12, 2026, there was a hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius and resulted in 11 reported cases (nine confirmed) and three deaths. The outbreak involves the Andes virus strain, which can spread between humans.
While passengers were evacuated and quarantined, officials emphasised that the general public risk remains low. The ship sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina, in early April before cases of severe respiratory illness emerged, prompting a WHO investigation.
Passengers were evacuated to several countries, including the U.S., France, and Spain, for monitoring. People have since tested positive for hantavirus globally across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Tracked cases linked to the MV Hondius cluster include confirmed positive tests in:
- The Netherlands: there were confirmed cases among crew and passengers.
- France: a returning passenger tested positive after returning to Paris.
- United States: an American national tested positive.
- United Kingdom: there were confirmed cases among repatriated British citizens.
- Switzerland: a passenger who disembarked tested positive upon returning home.
- Spain: there was one confirmed case linked to travelers on the ship.
Canada’s first confirmed case of hantavirus was reported on May 17, 2026, following an outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship. The patient, a resident of the Yukon in their 70s, is among four Canadians who were isolated in British Columbia after returning from the vessel.
In the case of the USA, of the seventeen passengers to be taken to a Nebraska quarantine center to be assessed, one tested positive and another showed hantavirus symptoms.
In Spain, a Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus.
Comparison with other viruses:
Hantavirus differs from COVID-19, SARS, and Ebola mainly by its zoonotic transmission (rodent-to-human) and very low person-to-person spread, unlike the highly contagious COVID-19/SARS or the direct-contact transmission of Ebola.
While Hantavirus has a high fatality rate (30–40%) and causes severe respiratory distress like COVID-19, its poor transmissibility prevents it from causing pandemics.
Although there is a “6-year” gap between major viral outbreaks (e.g., 2002 SARS, 2008 H1N1, 2014 Ebola, 2020 COVID-19, and 2026 Hantavirus), this is viewed as a coincidence of dates rather than a predictable scientific cycle.
According to a Swiss government study, researchers found that the viral RNA of the Andes strain of the hantavirus remain detectable in a recovered man’s semen for up to 71 months (nearly six years).
Similar to how the testes acting as a reservoir for Ebola and Zika, the male reproductive tract allows the hantavirus to evade the body’s immune system, which explains the long-term persistence.
Possibility to hantavirus reaching Grenada:
The risk of hantavirus reaching Grenada and the wider Caribbean is currently considered low, despite a recent cruise ship outbreak nearby, according to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
While a cruise ship outbreak is being monitored, the virus does not spread easily between people, and local transmission in the Caribbean is unlikely because it is primarily transmitted by specific rodents not usually in urban Caribbean areas.
In conclusion, while the global spread of infectious diseases is always a consideration for travel hubs, there is no evidence of an active hantavirus outbreak in Grenada. The situation with the MV Hondius is being managed by international health authorities.
Simeon Collins, is a former Director of the Grenada Bureau of Standards and first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), a CARICOM Institution