Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak Grows to 11 Cases, One Critically Ill

A French woman infected in the world's first hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship is fighting for her life on an artificial lung in a Paris hospital as the case count climbs to 11 and health officials warn that more infections may surface in the weeks ahead — a warning with direct resonance for Florida's busy cruise corridors.

Three passengers have died, including a Dutch couple health officials believe were the first exposed to the Andes strain of hantavirus while visiting South America. A Spanish passenger tested positive Tuesday and is in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid. Of the 11 total reported cases, nine have been confirmed.

Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital in Paris, described the French patient's condition as "the final stage of supportive care" — a life-support device that circulates blood through an artificial lung, buying her damaged heart and lungs time to recover. She has developed severe, life-threatening complications in both organs.

All 87 passengers and 35 crew members were evacuated to Tenerife by workers in full-body protective gear. The MV Hondius is sailing back to the Netherlands for cleaning and disinfection. Two aircraft carried Dutch nationals, Australian and New Zealand passengers, and Filipino crew members to Eindhoven, where all were placed into quarantine, Dutch government officials confirmed.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday there is "no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak," but cautioned that the virus's incubation period — one to eight weeks — means additional cases remain possible. He advised returning passengers to quarantine for 42 days.

For Treasure Coast residents, the outbreak underscores a vulnerability embedded in the region's geography: Port Canaveral, roughly 90 miles north of Martin County, is among the busiest cruise homeports in the world, with hundreds of thousands of passengers cycling through each year. Unlike common influenza strains that routine port health screenings are calibrated to catch, hantavirus presents no symptoms for weeks and has no approved vaccine or cure.

The Andes variant detected aboard the Hondius is especially concerning because, unlike most hantavirus strains — which spread only through contact with infected rodent droppings and cannot pass between people — Andes virus may in rare cases transmit human to human, public health documents indicate.

Argentina's health ministry said Tuesday it is dispatching scientific experts to investigate a landfill the Dutch couple visited on a bird-watching tour, where they may have encountered infected rodents. Local officials in the South American province where the cruise departed have challenged that theory.

Twelve hospital staff at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands were placed into six-week preventive quarantine Monday after improperly handling bodily fluids from a confirmed patient. The hospital said the risk of infection is low but that stricter handling procedures should have been followed.

Early detection and supportive care remain the only tools available against the disease, the WHO said.

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