What happened on the MV Hondius hantavirus cruise ship?

The MV Hondius outbreak is the first documented cruise-ship cluster of hantavirus disease. The Dutch-flagged expedition vessel was operating South Atlantic and sub-Antarctic itineraries when multiple passengers and crew developed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome consistent with Andes virus (ANDV) infection.

Investigators implicated rodent activity in the ship's stores — most likely Oligoryzomys species rice rats taken on board during a Patagonian port call — and the resulting aerosolised excreta in confined cabin and food-storage spaces. Person-to-person transmission, a known feature of ANDV, may have amplified the cluster aboard.

Public-health response involved emergency disembarkation of symptomatic passengers, contact tracing across multiple countries, ship-wide rodent eradication, deep-clean disinfection following the CDC "open up, air out, wet down" protocol, and quarantine for close contacts.

The MV Hondius event matters epidemiologically because it demonstrates that hantavirus — historically considered a strictly rural, terrestrial zoonosis — can establish a transmission chain in a closed, mobile environment if a reservoir rodent is inadvertently shipped. Maritime public-health protocols for sub-Antarctic expedition vessels were updated in response.

For the current case count, source list and timeline, see the live event page.