Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-country was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Friday, 8 May 2026 at 21:31 UTC. The event is classified as a epidemic incident with a severity rating of Severe, and was detected through the World Health Organization (WHO).
On 2 May 2026, a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness aboard a cruise ship was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). At that time, according to the ship operator, 147 passengers and crew were onboard, and 34 passengers and crew had previously disembarked. Since the last Disease Outbreak News published on 4 May, three of the suspected cases were confirmed, and one additional confirmed case was reported. As of 8 May, a total of eight cases, including three deaths (case fatality ratio 38%), have been reported. Six cases have been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infections, with all identified as Andes virus (ANDV). Through the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) channel, National IHR Focal Points (NFPs) have all been informed and are supporting international contact tracing. WHO assesses the risk to the global population posed by this event as low
Understanding epidemic events
Disease outbreaks including cholera, dengue, measles, Ebola and influenza. Outbreak trajectories depend on transmission route, population immunity and the speed of detection. Early case-finding, clean water and vaccination coverage change outcomes far more than late-stage restrictions.
How severity is rated
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Safety guidance for epidemic situations
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Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from the World Health Organization (WHO) and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
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Timeline and sources
Officially recorded
An official record exists from World Health Organization. That confirms the event was recorded; figures quoted from news reports are not confirmed by it.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
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· received · event time 8 May 2026, 21:31 UTCFirst report Humanitarian agency report
First recorded from World Health Organization.
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.