According to a Düsseldorf clinic spokesman, there is no evidence of an infection in the person from Germany.Image: keystone
May 8, 2026, 11:16 amMay 8, 2026, 1:16 p.m
The hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship “Hondius” with three deaths is affecting health authorities and doctors in several countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), five hantavirus infections have now been detected, as well as suspected cases.
In Germany, a passenger who was flown out alongside two sick crew members is being examined at the Düsseldorf University Hospital (UKD).
These are the latest developments.
The clinic wants to provide information throughout the day
According to a Düsseldorf clinic spokesman, there is no evidence of an infection in the person from Germany, but additional examinations are necessary due to the very different incubation periods. The spokesman said on Thursday that the protective measures would therefore be maintained as a precautionary measure.
So far, three people have died in the outbreak, an elderly couple from the Netherlands and a woman from Germany. According to the Dutch Foreign Ministry, the 65-year-old German, who is now in the university hospital, is said to have been in close contact with the German woman who died on board. The UKD has not yet commented in more detail about the person who was admitted late on Wednesday evening.
The clinic originally wanted to report the results in the morning, but that was delayed. A spokesman said further inspections will be carried out. However, it is planned to present meaningful information later in the day.
WHO sees a “serious situation”
“This is a serious situation, but the WHO considers the risk to public health to be low,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday in Geneva. “This is not the beginning of a pandemic,” emphasized the acting emergency aid coordinator, Maria van Kerkhove. A comparison with the start of the corona pandemic six years ago is not appropriate.
Meanwhile, Dutch health authorities said a stewardess who had close contact with the elderly woman who died of the virus was not infected. A test is negative. The WHO also confirmed this.
The flight attendant had looked after the Dutch woman in Johannesburg, South Africa, who wanted to fly back to Amsterdam on a KLM flight after her stay on the “Hondius”. However, the crew did not take her with them because of her health. She died in hospital a day later. Her husband had previously died of the virus on the ship. The stewardess was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam on Wednesday with symptoms.
“Humans are bad hosts”
The expert Martin Eiden from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) explained in the “Morgenecho” on WDR5 that with the Hantavirus, human-to-human transmission is only possible in the case of the so-called Andes type. And only a few cases of this type of virus have been reported worldwide.
The risk of human-to-human transmission is generally considered to be very low, said Eiden. So far they have only been observed rarely – for example in 1995 and 2018 in Argentina. There is the Andes virus there.
With other hantaviruses, humans are a “mishost,” the expert explained. People can become infected with the virus but cannot pass it on.
Several hantavirus infections have been confirmed on the cruise ship “Hondius”; according to the WHO, it is the Andes type. According to the WHO, the Andes type has so far only been registered in the Argentine provinces of Chubut, Río Negro and Neuquén and in the south of Chile.
Ship is on its way to Tenerife
According to the WHO, no one on board the “Hondius” is currently showing symptoms of infection. The ship has set course for Tenerife from the Cape Verde Islands, where all of the almost 150 people on board are to be examined and tested. It is still unclear how the journey home will be organized afterwards.
29 passengers had already left the cruise ship on April 24th on the British island of St. Helena in the south of the Atlantic Ocean. According to the information, this was a good ten days before the first hantavirus case was confirmed. Researchers in Argentina are now tasked with clarifying the question of the origin of the infections. In Ushuaia in the very south of the country, where the “Hondius” set sail on April 1st, rodents are to be captured and examined for the virus, as the government in Buenos Aires announced.
Hantaviruses are usually transmitted by infected rodents such as rats or mice. The Dutch couple who first showed symptoms and later died of the infection had been traveling in the region since 2025, according to the Argentine government.
The Puumala type is circulating in Germany
According to expert Eiden from the FLI, the Puumala virus type from the Hantavirus family is circulating in Germany. It is only transmitted to humans via excreta from infected bank voles. If you come across excretory dust – for example in garages, cellars or attics – you should only sweep it away with a breathing mask on, and always remove feces with gloves, he recommended. In most cases, infections had no symptoms and those affected did not even notice them, he reported. Serious illnesses have only occurred in a few cases in this country, usually in previously ill patients. (sda/dpa)