Hantavirus Aboard the MV Hondius: A Cruise Outbreak Spreads Across Continents
On March 20, 2026, 70-year-old Leo and 69-year-old Mirjam Schilperoord from Haulerwijk, Netherlands, boarded the MV Hondius in Ushuaia, Argentina, for a 46-day cruise from Antarctica to the west coast of Africa. The purpose-built cruise ship, the first Lloyds of London-registered Polar Class 6 cruise ship in the world, carried a complement of 88 passengers and 59 crew. After various excursions to Antarctic destinations, the ship returned to Ushuaia on March 31, where the couple booked a tour to the “Relleno Sanitario” landfill, a premiere destination for birdwatching exotic sub-arctic bird species. Leo returned to the ship with more than photos of austral parakeets, Magellanic woodpeckers, green-backed firecrowns, steamer Ducks, and white-throated caracaras. He brought back a virulent Andean strain of hantavirus, transmitted to humans from rat or mouse droppings, urine, or saliva, and one of only two known strains of that pathogen capable of human-to-human transmission. The ship left for the Sandwich Islands on April 1, enroute to Tristan de Cunha and Saint Helena.
But hantavirus? There is no vaccine, and no known cure or remedy — emergency care is limited to treating the symptoms.
Within a week, Leo began exhibiting flu-like symptoms and was treated by the ship’s doctor. The illness progressed to a mild fever, headache, abdominal pain, and mild diarrhea, and finally acute respiratory distress. He died at sea on April 11. The next day, Captain Jan Dobrogowski announced to the passengers and crew that it was his sad duty to inform them that one of the passengers had died suddenly. He went on to inform them that he’d been told by the doctor that the condition was not contagious and that the ship was in no danger.
On April 24, experiencing slight flu-like symptoms, Mirjam disembarked in Saint Helena, along with more than two dozen other passengers from over a dozen different countries. Mirjam was returning to the Netherlands with her husband’s remains via Johannesburg, South Africa. En route, she began experiencing gastrointestinal issues and on arrival, collapsed in the airport. She died the next day.
Back on the MV Hondius, as the ship approached Ascension Island, a British passenger began displaying flu-like symptoms and fever. As his condition progressed, he was airlifted to Johannesburg on April 27, where he remains in intensive care.
On April 28, the doctor treated a German national who had been a frequent tablemate of the Schilperoords, for the now familiar flu-like symptoms, fever, and abdominal distress — progressing to pneumonia-like symptoms. She died on board May 2.
As the MV Hondius approached Cape Verde, it was clear that the deaths and illnesses were the result of Andean hantavirus. Two additional passengers and the ship’s doctor presented advancing symptoms of the virus. Cape Verde officials initially refused the ship permission to dock and refused to allow the patients to disembark.
Heavy behind-the-scenes diplomatic discussions obtained permission from Spain for the ship to dock in Tenerife, Canary Islands, where there would be medical screening, triage, and disembarkation. The ship is en route to the Canary Islands at the time of this writing and is expected to arrive by May 10.
The current toll of dead and infected stands at nine. Due to the virulence of this strain of the virus with a 40 percent mortality rate, and the human-to-human transmission, officials from all engaged countries are contact tracing people who may have been exposed to infected individuals while in transit, being triaged, or being treated, to test them for infection, screen for possible isolation, and treatment.
Rats and mice?
It’s like the cruise industry just can’t get a break. Weathering the storms of Norovirus, Legionnaire’s disease, SARS, E Coli, and two years of COVID, cruising was just beginning to sound safe again. The optimism was short-lived.
Last year the CDC recorded 18 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses such as Norovirus, E./Coli and Ciguatera spread over 13 cruise lines, from Holland America and Princess to Oceania and Regent. Gastrointestinal illnesses involving over 3 percent of passengers and crew are mandatory report items to the CDC and the figures are up from 2023 (14 reported outbreaks, largely from Norovirus, E Coli, and Salmonella).
The year 2026 was already off to a rough start, with outbreaks on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner (E Coli), Princess Line’s Star Princess (Norovirus), and Oceania’s Insignia (E. Coli).
But hantavirus? There is no vaccine, and no known cure or remedy — emergency care is limited to treating the symptoms. It is true that Red China has actively used hantavirus vaccines for years, but they have proven ineffective for European and New World strains.
So, is cruising safe?
The infection rate on board the MV Hondius is already above 5 percent — way above mandatory CDC reporting protocols. And that’s while 146 passengers and crew remain bottled up enroute to Tenerife, and contact tracing is still being done to track down and evaluate members of the general population who may have come in contact with infected passengers or crew.
The MV Hondius was not a rat-infested ship with poor infection control or substandard medical protocols. It is just that in the event, even strict and duly enforced industry standards were no match for an elderly Dutch couple who likely contracted the virus on a bird watching expedition in Ushuaia, Argentina after their initial boarding and screening. Such outbreaks, from E. Coli to Covid and now Andean hantavirus are simply the predictable result of putting hundreds and even thousands of people in a confined environment with shared dining, entertainment, and air systems, and then cycling them through international ports.
So, is cruising safe? No. Not really. Not for the passengers, not for the crew, and not for potentially unsuspecting publics at large.
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