Health authorities in four U.S. states announced they are monitoring residents who disembarked from the MV Hondius cruise ship amid a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has killed three passengers.

Officials in Virginia reported one resident under watch, while Georgia has two, Arizona has one, and California has an unspecified number. None of the tracked individuals has shown symptoms such as fever, headache, or respiratory distress, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assessed the risk to the general public as extremely low.

The MV Hondius, a Dutch expedition vessel operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 with 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries. Its itinerary included Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and remote South Atlantic islands before reaching Cape Verde. The first illness emerged on April 6 when a Dutch man developed fever and gastrointestinal issues; he died on April 11. His wife fell ill after going ashore at St. Helena on April 24, died en route to South Africa three days later, and tested positive for hantavirus. A German passenger died aboard on May 2.

The World Health Organization reported seven cases as of May 4, including two laboratory-confirmed hantaviruses and five suspected, with one patient in intensive care in South Africa. Three more suspected cases were evacuated on May 6 to the Netherlands and Germany. The outbreak involves the Andes strain, which has caused limited human-to-human transmission in close-contact settings, though the virus typically spreads via contact with infected rodent droppings, urine or saliva.

Around 30 passengers, including six Americans, left the ship at St. Helena on April 24, two weeks after the first death but before the outbreak was fully recognized. At least 12 countries, including Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, are now tracking returned travelers. The ship, with no symptomatic people aboard today, left Cape Verde and heads to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, expected May 10. Passengers remain in cabins with enhanced cleaning and distancing measures.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome carries a mortality rate up to 38 percent in the Americas. The CDC and State Department are coordinating with states and contacting passengers. WHO technical advisor Maria Van Kerkhove emphasized that the situation differs from COVID-19 and does not signal a pandemic.