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MV Hondius Hantavirus Outbreak — HantaTracker
Tracking the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak. Official death toll, map, timeline and verified information (WHO, ECDC, CDC).
Hantavirus Global Situational Briefing — May 24, 2026
The MV Hondius cluster holds at 12 cases and three deaths — no new infections for a second consecutive day — as Rotterdam decontamination enters Day 7 and RIVM's post-clearance inspection remains pending. Simultaneously, Radboud University Hospital in the Netherlands isolated an Ebola suspect on May 23, while WHO raised its Ebola risk for DRC to 'very high'. France's ECMO patient remains on life support; Spain's provisional second case remains unconfirmed.
The MV Hondius cluster has held at 12 cases and three deaths for a second consecutive day. No new confirmed infections were reported in the 24 hours to midnight UTC+8 on May 24. Decontamination of the ship entered its seventh day in Rotterdam, but RIVM's post-decontamination inspection has yet to be completed — a prerequisite Oceanwide Expeditions must satisfy before the vessel can resume operations on June 13. Meanwhile, the Netherlands managed a second simultaneous viral threat on May 23: Radboud University Hospital in Nijmegen admitted a patient with a "low suspicion" of Ebola and placed them in isolation pending diagnostic tests, amid a rapidly escalating Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cluster status: no new cases, count holds at 12
The global case count from the MV Hondius Andes hantavirus cluster remains at 12 total — 10 confirmed, 2 probable; 3 deaths 1 as of the morning of May 24. No deaths have been recorded since May 2.
The most recent confirmed case — a Dutch crew member in home quarantine in the Netherlands who tested positive on May 22 — was admitted to hospital as a precautionary measure and confirmed by two independent laboratories, including RIVM 2. This is Case 12 in the WHO's oral briefing tally, and remains the only new positive result since May 17.
A formal WHO Disease Outbreak Notice (DON) incorporating Case 12 has not yet been published as of this briefing. The last DON (No. 601, dated May 13) listed 10 total cases 1. The ECDC's Communicable Disease Threat Report (CDTR) for Week 21, published May 22, formally covers May 14–22 and confirms the EU/EEA risk remains very low 3.
Genomic surveillance continues to support a single-introduction hypothesis. Sequences on Virological.org show ≤1 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) across all cluster patients, and the EU Commission has confirmed there is "no indication of increased transmissibility" in this lineage 2.
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Decontamination: Day 7, RIVM inspection still pending
EWS Group's decontamination of MV Hondius in Rotterdam entered its seventh day on May 24. The operation involves 25 crew members and 2 RIVM medical staff who remain aboard under observation. Two Dutch crew members — including the newly confirmed Case 12 — are in hospital quarantine; 38 Filipino crew who tested PCR-negative have been placed in a 42-day precautionary quarantine in the Netherlands 4.
RIVM's post-decontamination inspection has not yet occurred, or its result has not been publicly released. The inspection is the final certification gate before Oceanwide Expeditions can restart operations. CEO Rémi Bouysset's May 19 statement from Vlissingen set June 13 as the target restart date, contingent on completing all protocols. With Case 12 emerging from within the quarantine cohort on May 22, the complexity of that final inspection step has increased; a second new case among monitored crew would likely prompt RIVM to review its timeline 4. The May 29 and June 5 sailings remain cancelled.
Patient status by country
France. The 65-year-old French national at Hôpital Bichat AP-HP in Paris remains on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Her treating physician, Dr. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, described her condition as "final stage of supportive care" in a briefing released on May 12; no clinical update has been issued since 5. All 26 of her identified contacts have tested PCR-negative. ECMO is an advanced form of life support used when the lungs and heart can no longer function adequately on their own; it takes over oxygenation by circulating blood through an external membrane 5. The 42-day quarantine window for French passengers — counting from May 10 — ends June 21.
Spain. The first Spanish patient, a 70-year-old man treated at the Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital in Madrid, was reported to be approaching discharge in previous briefings. Spain's provisional second positive — a patient who presented with mild fever and respiratory symptoms — remains unconfirmed by PCR and is not included in official WHO or ECDC totals 2. The other 13 Spanish passengers quarantined at Gómez Ulla have consistently tested negative 6.
Netherlands. Four cases total (two confirmed, two probable), with one death. Beyond the hospitalized Case 12, the 12 Radboudumc University Hospital employees who were placed in six-week precautionary quarantine after a potential protocol breach in their diagnostic laboratory remain in quarantine — that period ends in late June 4.
Canada. The Yukon resident confirmed by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) remains stable in Victoria, British Columbia.
Switzerland. Patient still hospitalised, no change reported.
The Netherlands' concurrent viral caseload
On May 23, Radboud University Hospital in Nijmegen announced it had admitted a patient with a "low suspicion" of Ebola and isolated them pending the result of diagnostic tests 7. The hospital has not disclosed the patient's nationality, travel history, or the basis for the clinical suspicion. No result has been publicly released as of this briefing.
This admission came the same day WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus raised the public health risk from the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from "high" to "very high." As of May 23, 82 confirmed Ebola cases and seven confirmed deaths have been recorded in the DRC, alongside an estimated 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths 7. The outbreak has spread into neighbouring Uganda, where two cases have been confirmed. Tedros described the global risk from Ebola as remaining low. A US national who contracted Ebola in the DRC has been transferred to Berlin's Charité hospital, where physicians described him as "severely weakened" but not critically ill on May 23 7.
The Radboud patient is unconfirmed and unlinked to the hantavirus cluster, and the global risk of Ebola importation remains assessed as low. The proximity in time and geography — RIVM is simultaneously managing the MV Hondius decontamination from its Rotterdam facility — nonetheless illustrates the compounded demand placed on Dutch public health infrastructure this month.
US quarantine: legal architecture remains unresolved
Eighteen US passengers from MV Hondius remain under quarantine at Nebraska's quarantine facility through May 31; a broader cohort of approximately 41 are under health monitoring through June 22 4.
The legal basis for these orders has not been resolved. Andes virus (ANDV) does not appear on the presidential executive order's list of quarantinable diseases. CDC is classifying ANDV under "severe acute respiratory syndrome" — a July 2014 Obama-era category — to justify the orders. Arizona State University public health law professor James Hodge has described this as a real legal vulnerability; no Trump executive order amending the quarantinable disease list has been issued 8. Angela Perryman, one of the quarantined passengers who tested negative by both PCR and antibody assays (IgM + IgG), is challenging the order. No confirmed US cases linked to the Hondius cluster have been reported.
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No update on the status of the Perryman challenge or any related legal filings was available as of this briefing.
Oxford/ISARIC study: Day 3
The Oxford/ISARIC prospective clinical study — launched May 21, coordinating Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute, the Universities of Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and UKHSA — entered its third day on May 24. The study is tracking more than 20 British nationals who were aboard MV Hondius. High-containment sample analysis is being conducted at UKHSA's Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) and the MRC Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow 2. No preliminary findings have been reported.
Americas endemic surveillance
Argentina's Bureau of Epidemiology has not yet released Boletín Epidemiológico Nacional (BEN) SE19; the previous report (SE18) recorded 102 cumulative cases and 32 deaths for the 2025–26 season. The rodent trapping survey launched May 19–21 in Ushuaia's forests and Tierra del Fuego National Park — 150 box traps, samples dispatched to the Malbrán Institute in Buenos Aires — remains pending, with results expected over the next two to four weeks 4.
Chile continues to report 41 cases and 14 deaths (34% case fatality rate) for the current season. Bolivia reported four Andes-strain cases near the Argentine border in mid-May; no update on those patients was available.
In the United States, the Sin Nombre strain remains the dominant endemic concern. The two domestic HPS cases recorded in Colorado and Washington state last week — both assessed as unrelated to the Hondius cluster — remain the only verified Sin Nombre cases from May. A recent Emerging Infectious Diseases study from Whitman, Latah, and Benewah Counties, Washington, found approximately 30% seroprevalence and roughly 10% active infection rates in sampled deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) populations — higher than regional baselines and consistent with conditions that typically precede elevated human exposure risk in early summer 9.
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Watchlist for May 25
- RIVM post-decontamination inspection result — the single most consequential outstanding item; publication or a briefing from RIVM could confirm whether the vessel is cleared or whether additional protocols are required
- Spain second case confirmatory PCR — still awaited; a positive result would push the cluster total to 13 and necessitate an ECDC/WHO update
- France ECMO patient status — no clinical update since May 12; the trajectory of ECMO-dependent ANDV cases is relevant to the Oxford/ISARIC study protocols
- Radboudumc Ebola suspect diagnostic result — confirmation or exclusion expected within 24–48 hours
- WHO formal DON update — a revised DON incorporating Case 12 has not been issued; expected any day
- Argentina BEN SE19 — scheduled release approximately May 26
- Angela Perryman legal filing — whether a formal challenge is lodged before her quarantine ends May 31
참고 출처
- 1WHO oral briefing, 22 May 2026
- 2HantaTracker.fr — MV Hondius Outbreak
- 3ECDC CDTR Week 21 — May 22, 2026
- 4Forbes — Hantavirus-hit cruise ship scheduled to sail again in June
- 5NewsNation/AOL — Inside the machine keeping the French hantavirus patient alive
- 6Euronews — Hantavirus outbreak latest: Spain confirms one new case amongst evacuees
- 7Euronews — WHO says Ebola risk now 'very high' in DR Congo
- 8Healthbeat, via Channel Memory
- 9CDC EID — Pacific Northwest Sin Nombre rodent seroprevalence study, May 2026
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