How Big Could The Hantavirus Outbreak Get?

BreakingBusinessHow Big Could The Hantavirus Outbreak Get?ByMary Whitfill Roeloffs,Forbes Staff. Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes breaking news reporter covering pop culture.Follow AuthorMay 08, 2026, 10:34am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.ToplineExperts from the World Health Organization have said they expect spread of a deadly and rare hantavirus variant to be “limited” and are insisting a cruise ship outbreak that has killed three people is “not the start of a pandemic”—as British authorities confirm another suspected case linked to the ship. (See the latest hantavirus cruise updates here). A Bombardier Challenger 605 medical aircraft carrying some of the passengers believed to be infected with hantavirus from the cruise ship MV Hondius on May 6, 2026.ANP/AFP via Getty ImagesKey FactsWHO officials have said the Andes variant of the hantavirus, which has sickened at least nine people with two more suspected cases discovered Friday, will not cause a global outbreak on the scale of the coronavirus because it spreads very differently.This particular strain of the disease, the only one known to be spread person-to-person, requires sustained, close contact to be transmitted, the WHO has said, suggesting casual encounters are extremely unlikely to result in further infections. Officials are racing to trace the close contacts of more than two dozen people who disembarked from the cruise ship in the middle of its excursion—before they knew they’d been exposed to a deadly disease—including Americans from Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Virginia and California. None of the Americans have shown symptoms, various state health agencies reported, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said "the risk to the American public is extremely low.” Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud of the WHO said if everyone exposed to the illness follows public health measures, “we can break this chain of transmiss...