What Scientists Know So Far About the MV Hondius Hantavirus Outbreak

The MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak has thrust a little-studied virus into global headlines, and scientists are still piecing together exactly how it spread through a vessel carrying passengers of 23 nationalities across the South Atlantic.

The virus identified is the Andes strain, found predominantly in South America and carried by the long-tailed pygmy rice rat. Unlike other hantaviruses, the Andes strain can be transmitted person-to-person, making this outbreak uniquely concerning.

The likely hantavirus passenger source, considered Patient Zero, is a 70-year-old Dutch birdwatcher who is believed to have contracted the virus before boarding, through contact with infected rodent droppings in Argentina, possibly during a visit to a landfill. He developed symptoms on April 6 and died on board on April 11. No samples were taken at the time because his symptoms resembled other respiratory illnesses, and hantavirus was not initially suspected.

Argentine investigators from the Malbrán Institute have since been dispatched to the landfill and other locations the couple visited to trace the exact exposure point and capture and test rodent populations in the area.

As of the latest reporting, 11 cases have been identified, 9 confirmed by lab testing, among passengers from the Netherlands, UK, USA, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Spain. The MV Hondius, carrying hantavirus patients, disembarked in Tenerife, Spain, after a tense diplomatic standoff. No approved vaccine or antiviral treatment for hantavirus currently exists.