WHO Stresses Low Risk of Epidemic from Hantavirus Outbreak

The agency gave a press conference stating that the cruise ship outbreak is not anticipated to cause a large-scale epidemic on land.

Matt MacKenzie

May 8, 2026

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Key Highlights

- The WHO confirmed five laboratory-confirmed hantavirus cases on a Dutch cruise ship, with a total of eight suspected cases under investigation.
- WHO emphasized that hantavirus transmission requires close contact and does not anticipate a large epidemic from this outbreak.
- Investigations are exploring whether a bird watching trip prior to boarding the ship was the exposure source.
- Despite some countries leaving the WHO, Argentina and the U.S. continue to collaborate on tracking and managing the outbreak.
- CDC officials state the risk to the American public remains very low, with ongoing coordination among health agencies.

The WHO gave a press conference today about the hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship, stressing that the situation was “not another SARS-CoV-2.” CIDRAP has the news.

WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention said that “this is an outbreak on a ship and we do not anticipate a large epidemic.” Extreme close contact is needed in the “rare cases where person-to-person transmission has been recorded.” Five of the eight suspected cases have been “laboratory-confirmed with hantavirus.”

WHO has been working with “Argentinian officials to investigate whether a bird watching trip taken by the first case-patients before boarding the ship may have been where the exposure occurred.” The U.S. and Argentina, “two countries that left the WHO this year,” are both said to be working closely with the organization to track the outbreak.

CDC’s acting director Jay Bhattacharya wrote that the agency is “coordinating with domestic and international partners” and that the risk to the American public is “very low.” There are three more suspected cases linked to the cruise ship that are currently undergoing testing.