No changes to Andes hantavirus on cruise ship that would make it more transmissible — WHO

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had not been notified of any changes to the Andes strain of hantavirus found on a cruise ship that would make it more transmissible.

Olivia Le Poidevin and Jennifer Rigby/Reuters

6 May 2026 at 12:57:15

No changes to Andes hantavirus on cruise ship that would make it more transmissible — WHO

An archive image of the cruise ship Hondius, in Vlissingen, Netherlands May 17, 2025. The MV Hondius, a Netherlands-based cruise ship, was hit by a suspected outbreak of hantavirus, authorities and media reports said on May 3, 2026.

Reuters

GENEVA - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it had not been notified of any changes to the Andes strain of hantavirus found on a cruise ship that would make it more transmissible.

"We haven't been notified of any changes, of any changes in the sequence itself, to indicate that," Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic management at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, told Reuters.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Andrew Heavens)