17 Americans from Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Arrive in Nebraska for Quarantine, One Tests Positive

May 11, 2026

Seventeen American passengers and one British resident from the MV Hondius cruise ship arrived in Nebraska on May 11, 2026, for evaluation after a hantavirus outbreak aboard the vessel that has killed three people and infected at least nine. One passenger tested positive for the Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain capable of human-to-human transmission. The passengers are being processed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's National Quarantine Unit, the only federally funded facility of its kind in the United States, before dispersal to regional treatment centers for 42 days of home monitoring. Multiple nations including Spain, France, the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands have evacuated their citizens from the ship, which docked in Tenerife with 147 people aboard. The WHO has confirmed possible human-to-human transmission occurred on the cruise ship, and authorities are tracing approximately 90 contacts from a related flight exposure.

Americans arrive in Nebraska

▪One British national who lives in the United States arrived in Nebraska with the American passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship on May 11, 2026.
▪A plane carrying passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship landed in Omaha, Nebraska early on May 11, 2026.
▪Seventeen American passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship arrived in Nebraska for evaluation on May 11, 2026.

Hantavirus outbreak details

▪Three passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship have died from hantavirus since April 11, 2026.
▪The World Health Organization said hantavirus may have passed from human to human aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
▪Authorities are completing contact tracing of about 90 individuals who were exposed to a confirmed hantavirus case on a flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg.
▪The World Health Organization reported at least nine cases of hantavirus from the MV Hondius outbreak, including seven confirmed and two probable cases, as of May 11, 2026.
▪When the MV Hondius cruise ship started to disembark on May 10, 2026, there were 147 people on board, including 87 passengers and 60 crew members.

Quarantine facility procedures

▪The National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is the only federally funded quarantine unit in the United States designed specifically to safely house and monitor people who may have been exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases.
▪The University of Nebraska Medical Center biocontainment unit treated Ebola patients in 2014 and some of the first Covid-19 patients.
▪The National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has 20 single-person, 300-square-foot rooms with negative air pressure systems to contain possible viruses.
▪Other passengers from the MV Hondius will go to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for assessment and monitoring.

Patient monitoring protocols

▪MV Hondius passengers will face daily, home-based monitoring for 42 days after leaving the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

International passenger evacuations

▪British nationals from the MV Hondius will be asked to isolate for up to 45 days after assessment by public health specialists at Arrowe Park Hospital.
▪The MV Hondius cruise ship arrived at the Port of Granadilla near the Spanish island of Tenerife on May 10, 2026.
▪Evacuations from the MV Hondius involved 94 passengers of 19 nationalities, according to Spanish health authorities.
▪The UK government said 20 British nationals, one German national and one Japanese national from the MV Hondius are being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital in northwest England.
▪A plane carrying 14 Spanish passengers from the MV Hondius landed at Torrejon de Ardoz military airport, east of Madrid, on May 10, 2026.

Andes hantavirus transmission

▪Research from a 2018 Andes hantavirus outbreak in Argentina suggests the window for transmission appears to be about one day.
▪The Andes hantavirus strain is typically found in rodents in South America.