{"id":15945,"date":"2026-05-12T22:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hantavirus-cases-rise-to-11-as-cruise-ship-passengers-quarantine-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:07:47","slug":"hantavirus-cases-rise-to-11-as-cruise-ship-passengers-quarantine-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/hantavirus-cases-rise-to-11-as-cruise-ship-passengers-quarantine-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Hantavirus cases rise to 11 as cruise ship passengers quarantine – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Global health officials are warning that the number of hantavirus cases <\/a>\u2014\u00a0which was 11 as of Tuesday \u2014 could rise, as one American who was on the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak revealed new details from his quarantine room.
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Jake Rosmarin, who is quarantined in Omaha, Nebraska, spoke to NBC News from his room at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He and 15 other Americans will remain at the National Quarantine Center for a few days after returning home from the MV Hondius on Monday.
Two other Americans who returned from the voyage are at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
\u201cI\u2019m happy to be in a place where I know we are well cared for and if anything happens, we have the medical attention that we need,\u201d Rosmarin said on \u201cTODAY,\u201d adding that he has no symptoms and has not tested positive.
Of the 18 American passengers who arrived stateside this week, two are in biocontainment units \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. One is at UNMC, and the other is at Emory.
Since the Hondius departed with almost 150 aboard for a nature-sightseeing mission on April 1, nine cases of the hantavirus have been confirmed by lab results, in addition to two suspected cases.
Three people have died in the outbreak \u2014 a Dutch couple and one German national. The body of the first Dutch person to die was taken off the ship as it stopped at the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena. The passenger\u2019s wife traveled from there to Johannesburg, where she died in a hospital days later.
Rosmarin said finding out about the outbreak \u201cwas a really scary moment,\u201d especially after an internet search yielded frightening results. But further research led him to realize that hantavirus is well-known, which somewhat calmed his nerves.
He said he stayed in his cabin as much as possible while on the ship, but \u201cit wasn\u2019t really until we arrived in the Canary Islands and I was able to get off the ship that I felt a bit of relief.\u201d
His room at UNMC appears to be a bit of an upgrade from his cruise ship cabin. In a tour he posted to Instagram on Tuesday<\/a>, Rosmarin showed off a bright red spin bike and a smart TV in an otherwise bare bedroom.
Later Tuesday, Rosmarin found joy in a simple pleasure: He posted<\/a> that the nurses at UNMC got him a \u201creally good iced coffee\u201d from Starbucks \u2014 something he said he hasn\u2019t had in weeks.
\u201cThis is everything I needed right now,\u201d Rosmarin said after his first sip.
The luxury cruise ship arrived early Sunday at the island of Tenerife, the largest of Spain\u2019s Canary Islands off West Africa, where passengers started repatriating to their home countries. Passengers received health screenings upon arrival in Spain, the country\u2019s Health Ministry said in a statement.
Officials in the U.S. said those who have not tested positive for hantavirus and are not exhibiting symptoms will remain under medical supervision for a few days. After that, they can self-isolate at home.
As of Tuesday afternoon, none of the 16 patients at UNMC were experiencing symptoms, HHS said on X<\/a>.
Given hantavirus\u2019s long incubation period of 42 days, \u201cwe might see more cases in the coming weeks,\u201d said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization.
In Spain and France, officials have said that everyone exposed to the deadly virus must quarantine for the full incubation period.
Exposed patients in the U.S. have the option to remain in quarantine as well for the full 42 days, said Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska biocontainment unit. She added that she would encourage patients to do so.
Some U.S. patients who left the cruise earlier are being monitored, as are those who may have been in close contact with them in multiple states.
Officials have maintained that the public health system is working exactly as intended.
\u201cLet me be crystal clear: The risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low. The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily<\/a>, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic,\u201d said Dr. Brian Christine, HHS\u2019 assistant secretary for health.
The World Health Organization is investigating and trying to pinpoint the origin of the outbreak. There is particular attention on a bird-watching trip in southern Argentina<\/a>, which the first passenger to die took part in before joining the cruise.
American and global health officials have stressed throughout the outbreak that the risk to the wider public is low and that transmission is limited to close contact.
Positive tests have shown up in France, Spain and Switzerland, and nations around the world are closely monitoring those patients, as well as the others who were on the Hondius.
A number of U.S. states, including Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina, have said they are monitoring reports of individuals in their states who may have been exposed to the virus.
All of the ship\u2019s passengers and a \u201climited\u201d number of its crewmembers had disembarked by Monday night. The remaining 27 crewmembers are sailing to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and are scheduled to arrive Sunday, Oceanwide Expeditions said.
This isn\u2019t the first hantavirus outbreak in recent history.
One documented \u201csuperspreader\u201d outbreak occurred in Argentina in 2018<\/a>. Thirty-four people were sickened after several people with hantavirus attended a variety of social events, including a birthday party. Eleven people died.
Despite that, Dr. Brendan Jackson, acting director of the high-consequence pathogens and pathology division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged that there\u2019s a lot more to learn about hantavirus.
\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that we\u2019re very early in this outbreak,\u201d he said. \u201cThe risk to the public is very, very low at this time, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re letting our guard down.\u201d
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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