Three passengers are dead, the ship is arriving Cape Verde under quarantine talks, and the strain still isn't named. The expedition-cruise rule book just got an unexpected page added.
The MV Hondius left Ushuaia in mid-April for what was sold as a 23-night Antarctica, Falklands and South Atlantic voyage, ending in the Canary Islands.
It did not end in the Canary Islands.
A 70-year-old male passenger fell ill at sea and died aboard. His body was offloaded at Saint Helena, the British territory the ship had stopped at on its way north. His 69-year-old wife — Dutch — was medically evacuated to South Africa, then collapsed at Johannesburg airport trying to fly home and died in hospital. A third passenger has since died. One more is in intensive care in Johannesburg, and roughly five other passengers are being treated as suspected cases.
figures via the South African Department of Health, reported by AP and CNN
On May 3, 2026, the World Health Organization confirmed at least one lab-positive hantavirus case from the ship and said sequencing to identify the specific strain is ongoing. The Hondius was, at that point, en route to Praia, Cape Verde, where authorities are reportedly negotiating to isolate the remaining sick passengers in hospital before any onward sailing.
Here's the part that should make every expedition cruiser pause.
What hantavirus actually is — and isn't
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses normally carried by rodents. People usually catch them by breathing in aerosolised dust from rodent urine, droppings or saliva — typically in cabins, sheds, or anywhere mice or rats have been nesting. The fatality rate, depending on strain, runs anywhere from a few percent to roughly a third of cases.
