Disease from the Andes: can a new infection lead to a pandemic

In recent days, a lot of information has begun to appear about the hantavirus, an outbreak of which was recorded on the cruise ship MV Hondius. Three people died, and eight people were also reported infected. The virus has been confirmed in five people in the laboratory, and the fate of about 30 people is currently unknown. Now all passengers who got off the ship are being searched on four continents. For more information about the virus, strains, and the situation in Russia, see the Izvestia article.

Hantavirus in Russia

Recall that in the spring of 2026, the world's attention was focused on the outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius, en route from Argentina to Cape Verde. There were about 150 people on board, three died.

Hantavirus itself is a common infection that hundreds of thousands of people face every year. Now they are talking about it precisely because of a certain strain - Andes (or Andean), which can be transmitted from person to person.

In Russia, several thousand cases of infection with the virus are registered annually, namely the one that leads to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

In 2020, according to Rospotrebnadzor, 3,845 cases were registered. The maximum incidence rate has traditionally been observed in the Volga Federal District.

At the same time, it was reported that the most difficult epidemiological situation for HFRS was observed in:

— Udmurt Republic (25.46 per 100 thousand population);

— Penza region (19.13 per 100 thousand population);

— The Republic of Mari El (16.03 per 100 thousand population).

The pathogens of HFRS in the European part of Russia are, as a rule, Puumala hantaviruses and 4 Dobrava/Belgrade genovariants: Dobrava, Kurkino, Sochi, Saarema; in the Asian territory, Seoul, Hantaan viruses and its Amur genovariant.

In 2025, according to Rospotrebnadzor, the incidence of HFRS was 3 times less than the last increase in 2019 and 1.5 times lower than the long-term average.

According to the Kazan Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (KNIIEM) According to Rospotrebnadzor, from January to October 2025, HFRS infected over 3.3 thousand Russians in eight federal districts and 54 regions of Russia. The figure is one and a half times more than in the same period last year.

For 9 months of 2025, it was reported that 2,713 cases of HFRS (1.9 per 100,000) were registered, for the same period in 2024 — 1,785 cases (1.2 per 100,000).

Cases of hantavirus in the world

Countries around the world are now trying to track passengers who left the ship before the outbreak. The Dutch government reported that about 40 people disembarked from the ship on St. Helena Island, where they stopped before information about the spread of the disease became available. The whereabouts of many of these passengers are still unknown.

We are talking about at least 12 countries in North America, Asia, and even the Middle East (Israel). But half of these countries are in Europe.

In France, a patient contracted hantavirus, although he was not on the MV Hondius liner. It is also known that a former passenger was urgently hospitalized in Switzerland.

An alleged case has also been reported in the Netherlands. A KLM flight attendant who had contact with a passenger who died of hantavirus was hospitalized in Amsterdam. Now the girl is in isolation and is waiting for the test results. We are talking about a flight that took off from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25.

The Spanish Ministry of Health also confirmed a suspicious case of hantavirus infection in a woman in Alicante, she was hospitalized.

China Central Television also reported that a fatal case of hantavirus infection was reported in Taipei, Taiwan.

Amid reports of people infected in Europe, the Infobae news portal, citing the Argentine Ministry of Health, reported that the country had recorded the largest outbreak of hantavirus in 10 years. According to their data, 101 cases of the disease have already been confirmed in the epidemiological season of 2025-2026.

Earlier, in 2018, there was also an outbreak in Argentina. At that time, 34 cases of the Andean strain were recorded, 11 people died.

Hantavirus: what is it

Hantavirus is not a specific disease and has a group of different strains. The main vectors of infection are rodents, for example, field mice. The virus is found in their urine, saliva, and feces. A person becomes infected most often by inhaling dust containing particles of animal secretions. Other ways of infection: biting mice or touching sick animals, drinking contaminated water, eating foods tainted by mice.

Human-to-human transmission is considered extremely rare due to the fact that most strains of hantavirus do not spread by airborne droplets. However, some, in particular the Andean virus (Andean or Andes), can be transmitted through close and prolonged contact with a sick person: between family members or intimate partners. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the chance of infection is highest at an early stage of the disease, when the virus is more contagious.

The territory of the spread of hantaviruses covers almost the entire world. Strains typical of Europe and Asia (including Russia) usually cause HFRS. The disease begins with a sharp jump in temperature and intoxication. This is followed by lower back pain, pressure drop, and internal hemorrhage. In the worst case, a person may develop acute renal failure.

Susceptibility to HFRS is universal, but men (70-90% of patients) of the most active age (from 16 to 50 years old), in particular, industrial workers, drivers, tractor drivers, and agricultural workers, are most susceptible to it.

Natural foci of the virus exist in deciduous and mixed forests and forest-steppe landscapes. The source of HFRS in nature are rodents: the red vole (Volga Federal District, European part of Russia), as well as the field mouse (Volga Federal District). In the settlements of the Far East, the gray rat and the East Asian mouse are carriers of the infection, and in the Greater Sochi area, the Caucasian forest mouse.

HFRS is recorded throughout the year with an increase in incidence in the summer and autumn period.

In the Americas, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is most common — instead of kidneys, the virus attacks the respiratory system. At the same time, a person suffers from a dry cough, shortness of breath, and his lungs are rapidly filling with fluid.

Symptoms of hantavirus infection

At an early stage, the disease is often difficult to recognize due to the fact that the symptoms resemble a severe viral infection or the flu.

The first signs are a sharp increase in temperature, severe headache, and muscle aches (especially in the back and hips). In some cases, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and upset stools may occur.

Doctors advise paying special attention to the above symptoms if a person was in places where contact with rodents was possible.

Places of increased danger are considered to be:

— country houses after winter, cellars, sheds, basements, barns;

— nature: picnics, mushroom picking, camping overnight;

— water sources: open wells, streams.

The incubation period of hantavirus is one to eight weeks. Symptoms most often appear after two to four weeks.

Can hantavirus lead to a new pandemic, treatment

Mortality in the detection of hantavirus depends on the specific strain. European ones usually lead to mild forms of the disease. The American ones can be fatal in 30-50% of cases.

Despite the fact that it was the Andean virus that was detected on the liner, there is no need to talk about the possibility of a pandemic now. Outbreaks, according to infectious diseases experts, are usually local in nature and are associated with an increase in the rodent population.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already said that the spread of hantavirus among the passengers of the liner in the Atlantic does not look like the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

"At the moment, the risk to the rest of the world is low," he said.

There is no separate vaccine for the treatment of the disease. The main preventive measures are considered to be: protection of premises from rodent intrusion, storage of food in closed containers, wet cleaning of potentially dangerous premises with a mask and gloves.

If characteristic symptoms occur after contact with a potentially contaminated environment, seek immediate medical attention.