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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An outbreak aboard a cruise ship of a rare rodent-borne illness called hantavirus has left three passengers dead and sickened
others, but global health officials say the risk to the general public remains low because the germ does not easily spread between people. “This is not the next COVID, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at the World Health Organization. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
Hantaviruses have been around for centuries and are thought to exist around the world. The disease gained renewed attention last year after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.The virus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. However, the hantavirus that has caused the current outbreak, known as the Andes virus, may be able to spread between people in rare cases. As a precaution, health officials are taking extra measures with passengers returning to their home countries.
COVID-19 spreads much more easily than hantavirus, sometimes even from individuals who are asymptomatic, which made it extremely difficult to contain during the pandemic that began in 2020. In contrast, hantavirus is harder to contract, though potentially more dangerous once a person is infected.
Investigations into the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, particularly to ascertain its source. Officials in Argentina suspect that the cases were initially contracted during a birdwatching trip in Ushuaia, at the southern tip of the country. However, officials in Ushuaia note that the virus has not previously been detected in the province.
Argentina has experienced a surge in hantavirus cases that many local public health researchers attribute to climate change. Hantavirus primarily spreads through contact with rodents or their urine, saliva, or droppings, especially when these materials are disturbed and become airborne, posing an inhalation risk.
People are typically exposed to hantavirus around their homes, cabins, or sheds, particularly when cleaning enclosed spaces with little ventilation or exploring areas with mouse droppings. Scientists are still investigating how the Andes virus may be able to spread between people, with Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, suggesting that individuals may be infectious when symptomatic, and if the virus does spread, it may be transmitted through small liquid particles released when an infected person talks, coughs, or sneezes.
An infection can progress rapidly and become life-threatening. Experts note that it can begin with symptoms such as fever, chills, muscle aches, and potentially a headache, resembling the flu. Symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome typically appear one to eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent, and as the infection advances, patients may experience tightness in the chest as their lungs fill with fluid.
The other syndrome caused by hantavirus, known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which can lead to bleeding, high fever, and kidney failure, usually develops within one to two weeks after exposure. The fatality rates vary depending on the hantavirus responsible for the illness, with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome being fatal in approximately 35% of infected individuals, while the death rate for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome ranges from 1% to 15%, according to the CDC.
Hantavirus infections are relatively uncommon globally. The WHO reported that in 2025, eight countries in the Americas documented 229 cases and 59 deaths. Argentina's health ministry indicated that hantavirus resulted in 28 deaths nationwide last year, with 101 hantavirus infections reported since June 2025, roughly double the caseload from the same period the previous year.
In the United States, federal health officials began monitoring the virus following a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. An observant physician with the Indian Health Service first identified a pattern of deaths among young patients. Most U.S. cases occur in Western states, with New Mexico and Arizona being hotspots, likely due to the increased likelihood of mouse-human encounters in rural areas.
The family of hantaviruses is named after the Hantaan River in Korea, where the first hantavirus was discovered. The Hantaan virus infected 3,000 soldiers during the Korean War in the 1950s, causing a disease known as Korean hemorrhagic fever, which resulted in 190 fatalities. The virus itself was not identified until more than 20 years later. Hantaviruses have not been shown to spread from person to person, with the exception of the Andes virus, confirmed in the current outbreak.
Nevertheless, person-to-person transmission does not occur easily and would require 'close and prolonged' contact, according to the WHO. “We haven’t had huge person-to-person spreads of hantavirus infection ever before, and there’s no reason to suspect a huge outbreak from this case at this point,” stated Steven Bradfute, an associate professor and associate director of the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which specializes in hantavirus research.
There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus, but early medical intervention can increase the chance of survival. Despite extensive research, many questions remain unanswered, including why the infection can be mild for some individuals and severe for others, as well as how antibodies are developed. Some researchers have been following patients over extended periods in hopes of discovering a treatment.
“In the Americas, hantavirus infection is very serious, but it's also quite rare,” Bradfute remarked. “And so for a time that probably led to less research into it because of funding priorities, but I know there's been a lot of interest in funding hantavirus work of late.”
What researchers do understand is that exposure to rodents is crucial. The best way to avoid the germ is to minimize contact with rodents and their droppings. Public health experts recommend using protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleaning up rodent droppings and caution against sweeping or vacuuming, which can cause virus particles to become airborne.
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Associated Press journalists Mike Stobbe and Randy Herschaft in New York and Isabel Debre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed.
