by Steve Byas, The New American:

A hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius Dutch cruise ship has claimed the lives of three passengers and caused illness in others, according to mainstream news reports. Contact tracing links the illness’ origin to South America and the Atlantic island of St. Helena. U.S. passengers face a 42-day quarantine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Hantavirus is a rodent-borne RNA virus, and HPS, or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, gained prominence in 1993 during a deadly outbreak in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States, where scientists identified it as a new pathogen transmitted primarily through contact with secretions from infected mice or rats. Flu-like symptoms can rapidly progress to severe respiratory distress, with some strains causing fatality rates as high as 40 percent. Betsy Arakawa, wife of actor Gene Hackman, made headlines in February 2025 when she succumbed to hantavirus in New Mexico.