Hantavirus strain capable of human transmission found in 2 cruise ship passengers, officials say

South African health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can be transmitted from person to person, in two passengers who were on a cruise ship at the center of an outbreak of the rare infection, officials said Wednesday (May 6, 2026).

The virus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, people. It is typically contained because it would spread only through close contact, such as by sharing a bed or sharing food, experts say.

The World Health Organization says the Andes virus, a specific species of hantavirus, is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.

The South African Department of Health said in a report that the information came from tests performed on the passengers after they were removed from the ship and flown to South Africa.

One of the passengers, a British man, is in intensive care in a South African hospital. Tests were performed on the other passenger posthumously after she died in South Africa.

Three passengers have died in the outbreak of the rodent-borne virus on a cruise ship that is now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde in West Africa. At least four other people have fallen sick. Three of them are still on board, though there are plans to evacuate them from the ship.

The ship set sail from Argentina and two of the first cases on board, a Dutch woman who died in South Africa and her husband, had traveled in Argentina and elsewhere in South American before boarding the ship, WHO said.