3 King County residents possibly exposed to hantavirus linked to cruise

Three King County residents were potentially exposed to the type of hantavirus blamed for a deadly cruise ship outbreak last month, health officials announced Tuesday, while also noting the risk to the public remains low.

The possible exposures are the first to be reported among Washington residents in connection with the MV Hondius. The Dutch ship departed Argentina last month and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving Sunday at Spain's Canary Islands. Three cruise passengers, from the Netherlands and Germany, have died and several others have been infected.

One of the King County residents was a passenger on the ship, and the two others were seated on a plane near someone who had been on the cruise and has since died of the virus, according to Public Health - Seattle & King County.

None of the King County adults have tested positive, and no one in the county has reported symptoms, Dr. Sandra Valenciano, health officer and acting director for the health department, said in a Tuesday news conference.

This is a deadly virus, so I can certainly understand why it may be a fear-inducing situation," Valenciano said. "It may bring back memories from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also quite different than what happened with COVID-19."

When SARS-CoV-2 emerged, it was a novel virus we didn't know much about, Valenciano said. In contrast, hantavirus disease surveillance has been going on since the 1990s, and we have a lot more information about the virus and how it spreads, she said.

The two King County residents on an April 25 flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam were sitting two seats away from the ill cruise ship passenger who was removed from the plane before takeoff, the health department said.

Valenciano said she didn't know how long the two people were on the plane while the sick passenger was aboard, or if there were other Washington residents on the flight who were exposed.

"We were only notified about King County residents," Valenciano said.

The state Department of Health has not heard of other potential exposures to Washingtonians, department spokesperson Mark Johnson wrote in an email Tuesday. It is still possible the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could report additional exposures during international air travel, Johnson added.

The King County resident who was on the MV Hondius is also asymptomatic and being monitored with other American passengers at the national quarantine center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

King County's public health teams are checking in daily on the two residents who returned home, and who live together, to monitor for any symptoms that might appear. They're isolating at home and limiting activities outside the house to only those that are essential, Valenciano added. If they do leave the house, they've been instructed to wear a well-fitting mask or respirator, she said.

The department will continue to keep an eye on them through June 6, the end of their full exposure period.

Valenciano declined to give further details about the residents to protect their privacy.

How it spreads

Hantavirus infections are rare but can cause severe illness, health officials said. The virus primarily spreads through contact with wild rodents, especially when people are exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva.

The type of hantavirus identified in the cruise ship outbreak is the Andes virus, which is the only known type of hantavirus that can spread from person to person, health officials said. Such transmission is rare, and studies show that spread between people typically requires prolonged, close contact with a person sick with the Andes virus, according to the King County health department.

Symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure, the CDC says. They can include fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness and chills.

The rodents that carry the Andes virus have not been found in the United States, according to the CDC. In Washington state, there are deer mice that can carry a different type of hantavirus known as Sin Nombre, which does not spread from person to person, King County public health officials wrote in a post last week.

There have been six cases of Sin Nombre infections in King County since 1997, the last of which occurred in 2023.

There are typically one to five hantavirus cases reported each year in the state, mostly in Central and Eastern Washington, according to the state health department. The most recent hantavirus death here occurred last year in a Whitman County resident, said Johnson, of the health department.

Outbreak at sea

The MV Hondius departed Argentina on April 1, and five days later, a 70-year-old Dutch man became sick, according to The Associated Press. He became the first passenger to die on board on April 11.

Two weeks later, his body was taken off the ship onto the island of St. Helena, where his wife and more than two dozen other people from 12 different countries also disembarked. A day later, she flew to South Africa, where she died.

As the ship headed to Cape Verde, other passengers started to fall ill, including a British man who was taken to a South African intensive-care unit. On May 2, South African health officials confirmed he had tested positive for hantavirus. The same day, a third passenger died on the MV Hondius.

The MV Hondius on Sunday reached the Spanish island of Tenerife, where more than 100 passengers and crew members evacuated and started to return to their home countries. Eighteen of them are being monitored for hantavirus at U.S. medical facilities.

A team of investigators from Argentina suspects the Dutch couple may have contracted the virus while on a bird-watching trip before they boarded the cruise ship, the AP reported.

"What's important here is understanding that diseases and viruses know no borders," Valenciano said. "It's why it's so important for there to be this cross-collaboration with national partners and international partners, like the WHO, to making sure that we are keeping people safe.

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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 8:54 AM.