A Spaniard who had been quarantined after joining a cruise hit by a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive, Spain’s Ministry of Health said on Monday, marking the country’s second confirmed case. The ministry said the patient was moved to a high-level isolation unit at the Gomez Ulla hospital, where he will remain under care.
In a statement the ministry added, “The patient was transferred to a high-level isolation unit in the Gomez Ulla hospital, where he will remain hospitalised,” and stressed that “this does not change the level of the risk for the general population and does not change the measures of the current epidemiological response.”
The outbreak occurred aboard the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and visited remote islands in the South Atlantic before sailing north to Cape Verde and then Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where remaining passengers were evacuated. The World Health Organization said on Saturday that 12 suspected and confirmed cases linked to the ship have been reported to the UN agency, including three deaths, and that no deaths have been reported since May 2.
Health authorities note that hantavirus is a rare illness transmitted by rodents and that there are currently no vaccines or specific antiviral treatments. Officials continue contact tracing and monitoring of exposed passengers while maintaining that the risk to the wider public remains low.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/quarantined-spaniard-tests-positive-for-hantavirus-11546986#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-05-26 03:12:00
