The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is investigating a potential Hantavirus case in an Illinois resident not linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, and is also not likely related to the type of Hantavirus that caused the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The CDC is conducting additional testing to confirm the resident is positive for Hantavirus. CDC staff told IDPH its confirmatory test result could take up to 10 days to complete.
The individual possibly acquired the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present.
The North American strain of the Hantavirus, which the individual is believed to have potentially acquired, is not spread from person to person, which is different from the Andes strain associated with the MV Hondius. IDPH did not identify the exact strain that is potentially involved in this case.
The risk of contracting Hantavirus of any kind remains very low for Illinois residents.
MV Hondius is a Dutch-flagged, Polar Class 6 expedition cruise ship operated by Oceanwide Expeditions that is designed for Arctic and Antarctic expeditions for about 170–196 passengers. In April-May 2026, the MV Hondius originating from Ushuaia, Argentina in South America, was involved in a fatal hantavirus outbreak causing three deaths as of May 12, 2026.
“IDPH is investigating a potential Hantavirus case in an Illinois resident not connected to the recent outbreak pertaining to the MV Hondius cruise ship. The resident lives in Winnebago County, has not travelled internationally, and has not come in contact with individuals associated with the MV Hondius outbreak. They are suspected to have acquired a North American strain of the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present. Unlike the Andes strain of Hantavirus responsible for the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, the North American strains are not known to spread from person-to-person. The risk of contracting Hantavirus of any kind remains very low for Illinois residents.”
— Statement from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) — May 12, 2026
Additional information:
The Illinois resident associated with the potential Hantavirus case has not traveled internationally and is not connected to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak.
The resident is not seriously ill and is recovering after experiencing mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
IDPH is working with the CDC on additional testing to confirm the resident is positive for Hantavirus. That process can take up to 10 days, according to the CDC.
Commercial lab serology (or antibody) tests, which the individual received, are not considered definitive and therefore require confirmation by a more sensitive test done at CDC.
IDPH is coordinating closely with the local health departments including the Winnebago County Health Department (WCHD), and the CDC.
Excluding this latest potential case, Illinois has had 7 positive cases of Hantavirus since 1993, most recently in March 2025.
Since surveillance began in 1993, the U.S. recorded 890 cases of Hantavirus over 30 years (1993-2023)
The Hantavirus strain most commonly seen in the U.S. is caused by exposure to rodent droppings and is NOT contagious from person to person.
The rodent species (long-tailed pygmy rice rat) known to carry the Andes strain of the virus in South America is not known to inhabit the U.S. Andes virus (ANDV) is a known cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in Chile and Argentina, where it was discovered during an outbreak in southwest Argentina in 1995 (El Bolsón, Argentina).
At the time of publication of this article (May 12, 2026) MV Hondius cruise ship is located near West Africa southwest of Spain and Portugal, and is expected to arrive in Rotterdam, Netherlands on May 18, 2026, according to MarineTraffic.com and VesselFinder.com.
Andes virus infection, including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
As of May 12, 2026, there have been 3 deaths, 9 confirmed Hantavirus cases and two additional suspected cases from the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak.
At least 18 people (17 Americans and one US-based British national) are currently in the United States following the Andes hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship. All individuals (former passengers) are under strict health monitoring. Possibly two of these passengers are confirmed infected patients.
Two passengers (a couple, including one person with mild symptoms) were transported to a specialized medical facility in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sixteen passengers are in isolation at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, including one who tested “mildly” positive for the virus.
Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), caused by infection with a hantavirus. The disease was contracted through contact with rodent excreta in New Mexico, which causes rapid, fatal lung failure in about one-third of cases. She died around February 11, 2025. She was likely killed by the Sin Nombre strain of Hantavirus (SNV), which is the most common cause of the HPS in the Southwestern United States. The mortality rate of HPS from SNV is 30-60%, according to an article published in the international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published monthly by MDPI in Basel, Switzerland.
Jacob AT, Ziegler BM, Farha SM, Vivian LR, Zilinski CA, Armstrong AR, Burdette AJ, Beachboard DC, Stobart CC. Sin Nombre Virus and the Emergence of Other Hantaviruses: A Review of the Biology, Ecology, and Disease of a Zoonotic Pathogen. Biology (Basel). 2023 Nov 9;12(11):1413. doi: 10.3390/biology12111413. PMID: 37998012; PMCID: PMC10669331.
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