Rare hantavirus spreads on cruise ship, deaths reported

Health personnel board the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. Three people, two crew members and one other person, thought to be infected with the virus were being taken off the MV Hondius, anchored off Cape Verde, the World Health Organization said.

Health personnel assist patients onto a boat from the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026.

Crew members wearing hazmat suites on board a boat head towards the port from the cruise ship MV Hondius, stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026.

Health personnel returning from the cruise ship MV Hondius, are seen at the port of Praia as individuals wearing hazmat suits are helped into an ambulance on May 6, 2026.

This handout picture released by Argentina's Health Ministry shows a scientist from the Malbran Institute handling containers used to diagnose the Andes hantavirus, which contain RNA from the Andes virus as part of the detection process, in Buenos Aires on May 6, 2026. Argentina has seen an increase in hantavirus cases but not an outbreak, an expert told AFP on May 6, as infections aboard a cruise ship have provoked a global health scare. The MV Hondius set sail from Ushuaia in southern Argentina on April 1 and is currently anchored off the coast of Cape Verde after three passengers died, possibly of hantavirus.

A micrographic study of liver tissue seen from a Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) patient seen in this undated photo obtained by Reuters, July 6, 2017.

This handout picture released by Argentina's Health Ministry shows a scientist from the Malbrán Institute holding a container used to diagnose the Andes hantavirus, which contains RNA from the Andes virus as part of the detection process, in Buenos Aires on May 6, 2026.

A Bombardier Challenger 605 medical plane allegedly carrying some of the people believed to be infected with hantavirus passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius, lands at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on May 6, 2026. A plane that left Cape Verde following the evacuation of a cruise ship hit by the hantavirus landed in Spain's Canary Islands on May 6, while a second flight headed for the Netherlands.

Two people in hazmat suits are seen next to a Bombardier Challenger 605 medical plane allegedly carrying some of the passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius believed to be infected with hantavirus at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on May 6, 2026.

A person in a hazmat suit (2R) is escorted to a ambulance from a medical aircraft allegedly carrying some of the passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius believed to be infected with hantavirus, at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam on May 6, 2026.