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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 result, health officials are taking extra precautions with passengers returning to their home countries.
COVID-19 spreads much more easily than hantavirus, sometimes even from asymptomatic individuals, complicating containment efforts during the pandemic that began in 2020. Hantavirus is harder to contract, though potentially more dangerous once someone becomes ill.
Detailed investigations into the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, particularly to determine its source. Investigators in Argentina suspect that the cases were initially contracted during a birdwatching trip in Ushuaia, located at the southern tip of the country, although officials in Ushuaia note that the virus has not previously been detected in the province.
Argentina has experienced a surge in hantavirus cases, which many local public health researchers attribute to climate change.
Hantavirus is primarily spread through contact with rodents or their urine, saliva, or droppings, especially when the material is disturbed and becomes airborne, posing an inhalation risk. People are typically exposed to hantavirus around their homes, cabins, or sheds, particularly when cleaning enclosed spaces with poor ventilation or exploring areas with mouse droppings.
Scientists are still investigating how the Andes virus may spread between people, according to Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. They suspect that individuals could be infectious when exhibiting symptoms and, if the virus spreads, it may be transmitted through small liquid particles released during talking, coughing, or sneezing.
An infection can quickly progress and become life-threatening. Experts indicate 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 manifest between one and eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent. As the infection advances, patients may experience chest tightness as the lungs fill with fluid.
The other syndrome caused by hantavirus, known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, can lead to bleeding, high fever, and kidney failure, typically developing within one to two weeks after exposure.
Death rates vary depending on the hantavirus responsible for the illness. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is fatal in about 35% of infected individuals, while the death rate for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome varies between 1% and 15% of patients, according to the CDC.
Globally, hantavirus infections are relatively uncommon. The WHO reported that in 2025, eight countries in the Americas documented 229 cases and 59 deaths. Argentina's health ministry reported that hantavirus led to 28 deaths nationwide last year and indicated 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, approximately double the number recorded during 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 converge. An astute 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 identified as hotspots, likely due to increased chances 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 over two decades later.
Hantaviruses have not been found to spread from person to person, with the potential exception of the Andes virus, which has been confirmed in the current outbreak. However, transmission between individuals 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,” said 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 attention can enhance the chances of survival. Despite years of research, many questions remain unanswered, including why the illness can be mild for some individuals and severe for others and how antibodies are developed. Some researchers are following patients over extended periods in hopes of discovering effective treatments.
“In the Americas, hantavirus infection is very serious, but it's also quite rare,” Bradfute stated. “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 is known is that rodent exposure is critical. The best way to avoid the virus is to minimize contact with rodents and their droppings, using protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleanup. Public health experts advise 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.
