With the MV Hondius cruise ship passengers being quarantined for 42 days—since it can take up to seven to eight weeks for symptoms to emerge after exposure to the Andes virus—the risk that the hantavirus will spread much further is quite low. However, the risk of misinformation and disinformation about hantaviruses will spread has been high. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
By now you’ve probably heard about the hantavirus outbreak, you know the spread of the Andes type of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship that’s resulted in nine humans infected with three deaths so far. You’ve probably heard at least some of the—surprise, surprise—misinformation and disinformation that’s being spread as well.
Yes, as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, there’s no shortage of people willing to twist public health info into salty pretzels for political and financial gain. There’s also no shortage of folks rather blindly passing along to others health info seen on social media without verifying the info’s accuracy. And there’s even less of a check on such twisted information with public health information channels in the U.S. particularly in disarray right now.
Historically, the U.S. public has relied on various governmental agencies working closely with international organizations such as the World Health Organization to get accurate information about any infectious outbreak. But since 2025, the U.S. has withdrawn from the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been in upheaval, USAID has been dissolved and lots of scientific research funding has been cut. So, let’s address and clarify some of the inaccuracies that have been spreading way faster and farther than the Andes virus itself.
Speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of social media posts have been trying to somehow equate hantaviruses to COVID-19. This has even included using the made-up term COVID-26 to describe the hantavirus. Such posts have prompted the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, to put an X to this on X by emphasizing, “#Hantavirus is not COVID,” as you can see here:
Yes, hantaviruses are totally different from the whole family of coronaviruses that includes the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. For example, while coronaviruses in general have long been on the list of pathogens with relatively high pandemic potential as I reported in Forbes back in 2018, the p-word has never really been a significant concern with hantaviruses.
The reason why hantaviruses don’t have nearly as high pandemic potential as coronaviruses is another set of p-words. That’s rodent pee and poop. Those substances along with rodent saliva contaminated with hantaviruses have historically been the main sources of most hantavirus cases in humans throughout the years. When such rodent bodily fluids enter the noses, eyes, mouth or open skin wounds of humans, humans can catch the virus. Unlike various coronaviruses, though, direct human-to-human transmission of hantaviruses has been rare.
In fact, of the over 50 different types of hantaviruses in existence, only one type—the Andes virus—to date has shown the ability to go from one human to another. Now, this is the type that’s been responsible for the MV Hondius outbreak. It is believed that a Dutch couple first encountered the virus while birdwatching near a landfill, where rodents likely were. Either the husband or the wife might have caught the virus there and then boarded the cruise ship, along with the virus.
Moreover, unlike transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, human-to-human transmission of the Andes virus requires prolonged close contact with someone actively shedding the virus. Therefore, you likely are not going to have SARS-CoV-2-like transmission where simply being in the same room with someone for the span of 15 minutes can lead to your catching the virus. You can also catch the Andes virus by handling items such as bedsheets that have been contaminated with body fluids from someone infected—something you presumably won’t do with strangers while in a restaurant, store or train
Here's a photo of the cruise ship MV Hondius off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2026. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Another thing that’s been happening with this hantavirus situation happened with the COVID-19 situation: lots of unsupported claims about how the Andres virus emerged. One set of where-the-heck-did-that-come-from claims is that the Andes virus somehow came from a laboratory. That’s despite a complete lack of real scientific evidence to support such claims.
Plus, the Andes virus that appeared on the cruise ship has not been behaving any differently from past Andes viruses. It’s long been among the most lethal of the hantaviruses. The first death was the 70-year-old Dutch man, who became ill on April 6 and passed away while still on board on April 11, followed by the man’s 69-year-old wife, who left the cruise ship at Saint Helena on April 24 and succumbed on April 26. The third death was a citizen of Germany, who died on May 2 while still on board the cruise ship.
The MV Mobius offered the type of extended close contact needed to transmit the Andes virus from human to human. The 147 passengers and crew were on the ship together from when it left Argentina on April 1, 2026, through the month of April when it traveled to Antarctica to the South Atlantic islands and eventually to West Africa.
Then there are the claims that the hantavirus outbreak was somehow caused by the COVID-19 vaccines. Yeah, add that to the long list of unsupported claims about these vaccines that have ranged from various anti-vaxxers asserting that the vaccines will turn you into a gigantic magnet to attributing seemingly every celebrity illness and death during the COVID-19 pandemic to the COVID-19 vaccines. There isn’t much to say about this latest addition since there’s been no real evidence to support any link between the hantavirus outbreak and COVID-19 vaccines.
The same applies to claims that ivermectin can somehow help treat hantavirus infections. Since 2020, seemingly every time another infectious outbreak has occurred—whether it’s COVID-19, mPox, measles or now hantavirus—unsupported claims that ivermectin is the answer have quickly emerged as well. Again, there is no scientific evidence that ivermectin has any effect on either the early flu-like symptoms of a hantavirus infectious—like headache, fever, muscle aches, back pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, chest pain, loss of appetite and difficulty breathing—or the risk of the two big life-threatening complications of hantavirus infections: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome or Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome.
Of course, not everyone with a hantavirus infection will progress to either HPS or HFRS. But these potential complications are what make hantavirus infections particularly concerning. HPS is a severe disease of the lungs that can result in over a third of people with it dying. Meanwhile, HFRS affects the kidneys. Over time, blood vessels begin leaking, leading to bleeding, blood pressure can drop, blood fails to reach different parts of the body and the kidneys can fail. The severity of HFRS does depend on the specific type of hantavirus with fatality rates ranging from less than one percent up to 15 percent.
Unfortunately, those with any type of hantavirus infection must rely on supportive care only since there are no specific treatments available. That applies to HPS and HFRS as well. Supportive care can include things like oxygen, mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, intravenous fluids, medications to support blood pressure and flow and dialysis depending on the situation. Such supportive care can help improve survival. So there is value in diagnosing hantavirus infections through blood tests and hantavirus infection complications as soon as possible.
It’s also important to diagnose misinformation and disinformation about the hantavirus outbreak as soon as possible. Again, this hantavirus is not COVID-26. It’s a very different virus. With the MV Hondius passengers being quarantined for 42 days—since it can take up to seven to eight weeks for symptoms to emerge after exposure to the virus—the risk that the Andes virus will spread much further is quite low. But without effective public health communication, the risk that twisted information will continue to spread remains high—very high.
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