Deadly hantavirus outbreak is officially over, WHO says

The World Health Organization on Thursday officially deemed the 2026 hantavirus outbreak to be over, two months after the first news of the deadly virus onboard a cruise ship. The final person exposed to hantavirus through contact with a passenger from the MV Hondius tested negative and returned home from quarantine on Thursday, said WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus. No new cases had been reported since May 25, he said. The outbreak caused international concern because of the virus’s high fatality rate and because the variant on the ship has been known to pass from person to person.

The global health authority first reported the outbreak of the rodent-borne virus on May 4, after three of the cruise ship’s passengers died. Over the following weeks, 13 other cases were reported among passengers and people who came into contact with them, but none of the other infected people died.

While 17 of the ship’s passengers were Americans, no cases of hantavirus occurred in the United States during the outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on the last reported hantavirus case during the outbreak.