May 11, 2026

expert reaction to media reports that a French and an American MV Hondius passenger have developed symptoms and/or tested positive for hantavirus since being transported back to their home countries

Scientists comment on reports that a French and American passenger have developed symptoms and tested positive for Hantavirus. 

Dr Giulia Gallo, Postdoctoral Scientist in the Viral Glycoproteins Group, The Pirbright Institute, said:

Do we know yet whether these are confirmed cases?

“To the best of our knowledge, these cases are not yet confirmed by the WHO, but the situation is rapidly evolving and we will get an update as soon as appropriate tests have been carried out.

Is this surprising or expected given what we know about how the virus transmits and its incubation period?

“It is not surprising, the general hope was that no more cases would be detected, but given that it takes a considerable amount of time for symptoms to develop, health agencies have put in place protocols to minimize the risk of transmission to the healthy passengers, and the population, in case this would happen.

If these are confirmed cases, does this change the level of risk represented by these former cruise passengers?

“No, these potentially new cases derive from the same cluster of exposed people on the ship.  Monitoring and quarantining passengers and crew staff is still the best approach to ensure that the rest of the population remains unaffected by this situation.”

Previous comments issued by the SMC on aspects of and developments in the current hantavirus cluster:

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-current-hantavirus-situation-as-passengers-on-the-mv-hondius-are-taken-off-in-stages-and-taken-onwards-to-their-countries-of-origin/

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-first-complete-sequence-of-the-hantavirus-from-the-current-cluster-from-mv-hondius-from-the-swiss-patient-with-confirmed-andes-strain-uploaded-to-the-virological-org-platform-by-t/

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-statement-from-the-ukhsa-dhsc-and-fcdo-re-hantavirus-including-transport-arrangements-and-isolation-for-british-passengers-and-crew-aboard-the-mv-hondius/

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-hantavirus-update-from-the-ukhsa-including-that-two-people-had-returned-to-the-uk-having-been-on-board-the-mv-hondius-are-not-currently-reporting-symptoms-and-are-self-isolating/

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-continuing-hantavirus-situation-aboard-cruise-ship/

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-hantavirus-situation-on-cruise-ship-heading-from-argentina-to-cape-verde/

Declared interests

Dr Giulia Gallo: “I have no conflict of interest.”