‘OVER 100 SICK’: After Hantavirus, New Deadly Virus Spreads On Caribbean Cruise Ship | Norovirus

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:02]A major health scare has unfolded aboard the Caribbean Princess cruise ship after more than 110 passengers and crew members fell ill in a rapidly [music] spreading norovirus outbreak, according to the US Centers for Disease Control [music] and Prevention.

[00:00:20]The ship, operated by Princess Cruises, departed [music] from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 28th and is currently sailing through the North Atlantic on a voyage scheduled [music] to end in Port Canaveral on May 11th.

[00:00:32]On board are more than 3,100 [music] passengers and over 1,100 crew members, making containment [music] efforts particularly challenging.

[00:00:41]The outbreak was first reported on May 7th with symptoms quickly spreading across the vessel. The CDC confirmed that at least 102 passengers and 13 [music] crew members have been affected with the most common symptoms including severe [music] vomiting and diarrhea along with muscle aches, headaches, abdominal cramps, and fever.

[00:01:01]In response, cruise officials have escalated sanitation measures, [music] intensifying cleaning and disinfection protocols throughout the ship. Medical teams have also begun isolating infected individuals [music] while collecting stool samples for laboratory testing to track the source and spread of the virus.

[00:01:20]The CDC's [music] Vessel Sanitation Program has been deployed to assist with an ongoing environmental assessment and outbreak investigation. Health officials are working closely with the cruise line to enforce [music] containment measures and prevent further transmission on board.

[00:01:36]Norovirus is [music] known as the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States, responsible for millions [music] of infections annually and hundreds of deaths, particularly among older adults. It is highly [music] contagious and can spread quickly in confined environments such as cruise ships.

[00:01:54]This is not the first such incident for Princess Cruises, which also reported similar outbreaks earlier this year and in previous [music] voyages across its fleet. Cruise ships are required to report gastrointestinal illness cases to the CDC to enable rapid response and [music] outbreak control.

[00:02:12]As the Caribbean Princess continues its journey toward Florida, health officials remain on alert monitoring whether containment efforts will remain successful before passengers disembark.

[00:02:26]Remember how the world changed after COVID? And now a new virus scare erupts.

[00:02:33]It started aboard an expedition ship in the Atlantic and quickly set off alarm bells.

[00:02:38]A hantavirus outbreak has forced authorities to trace passengers across multiple countries.

[00:02:44]And once again, the world is asking, "How serious could this become?"

[00:02:50]Hantavirus is considered one of the rarest and most lethal viral diseases.

[00:02:55]Out of the 149 people aboard the luxury expedition ship, three passengers have died and eight others have been infected with hantavirus. At least 30 passengers disembarked from the cruise at the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena in late April, while several critical patients were airlifted to Europe this week.

[00:03:16]So, let us understand what hantavirus is and how it spreads.

[00:03:21]The World Health Organization says the outbreak involves the rare Andes strain of hantavirus, one of the few strains known to allow limited human-to-human transmission.

[00:03:32]It is a severe and often fatal zoonotic disease transmitted to humans primarily through contact with infected rodents, such as rats and mice, or their waste.

[00:03:43]The infection spreads when people inhale virus particles from rodent droppings, urine, or saliva.

[00:03:50]The disease can lead to severe respiratory failure known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome or kidney failure known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. The outbreak is now triggering painful memories of the early days of COVID-19.

[00:04:06]Symptoms of hantavirus can initially resemble the flu making accurate diagnosis difficult during the first 1 to 2 weeks of illness.

[00:04:14]Because of the wide range of symptoms, many people may initially believe they simply have the flu or another common viral infection before receiving a confirmed diagnosis.

[00:04:25]People experiencing the early stages of the virus may develop fever, chills, body aches, headaches, fatigue, and muscle soreness especially in the back and legs.

[00:04:37]Some patients may also experience nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

[00:04:42]Currently, treatment for hantavirus infection is mainly supportive and depends on the patient's symptoms and the severity of the illness.

[00:04:50]There is no specific cure and treatment focuses on managing symptoms and complications.

[00:04:55]All it needs is avoid rodent-infested areas, prevent direct contact with rodent urine or droppings, carefully clean contaminated areas, maintain hygiene around storage and living spaces, and supportive medical treatment for severe cases.

[00:05:13]Two Dutch nationals, a husband and wife, are among the three reported deaths linked to the Hondius outbreak. The woman who died in South Africa tested positive for hantavirus.

[00:05:25]At least 23 nationalities are believed to be connected to the outbreak involving the 149 people aboard the ship. Now, authorities are racing to trace possible virus carriers.

[00:05:38]Most passengers were tourists from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Spain.

[00:05:45]But among the crew members, alongside sailors and support staff from the Philippines, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Poland, were two Indian nationals.

[00:05:54]Their nationality has been confirmed, but their medical condition remains undisclosed. So, what happens next? The future course of the hantavirus outbreak will depend on three critical factors: intensified global contact tracing, scientific investigation into transmission patterns, whether additional international cases emerge.

[00:06:17]And I thank Prime Minister Sanchez for his generosity, solidarity, and meeting his moral duty.

[00:06:25]The ship is now sailing for the Canary Islands, and we're confident in the capacity of Spain to manage this risk, and we're supporting them to do so.

[00:06:36]Once again, we assess the risk to the people of the Canary Islands as low.

[00:06:44]Thank you very much, both. The next question goes to The situation what makes unique here is similarity crowded in a confined space.

[00:06:55]We had a similar situation in Argentina in 2018 to 2019, when asymptomatic individual attended a social gathering.

[00:07:05]So, that led to a lot of people getting infected.

[00:07:08]So, we are in a similar situation right now, a cluster in a confined space with close contact.

[00:07:14]Does that mean the rest of the world this disease will spread? We had that outbreak in 2018 and it led only 34 cases. We may had similar cases from there. So, I just want to show that if we follow public health measures, and the lessons we learn from Argentina is shared across all countries what needs to happen in contact tracing, isolation, we can break this chain of transmission, and this doesn't need to be a large epidemic. It's an a confined setting where people are interacting in a prolonged close contact. So we feel it's very quite familiar to the 2000 outbreak in Argentina and we don't anticipate a large epidemic with experience our member state have and the actions they have taken, we believe that this will not lead to subsequent chain of transmission. But we need to be balanced, reasonable, supportive solidarity in containing this outbreak.

[00:08:15]Thank you very much before I end.

[00:08:17]So is the public health measures able to break down the chain of transmission and we believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries. Another question.

[00:08:32]My next question is what is the WHO protocol? And I want to reiterate again this is not the start of an epidemic, this is not the start of a pandemic, but it is a good opportunity to say that investments in pathogens like this are critical because therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines save lives.

[00:08:50]And also we have been monitoring two live streams from that ship.

[00:08:56]And one is I did want to specifically mention that we are working with all of the countries who have nationalities that are on board to discuss the plans for the safe journey of those patients home once they disembark, once they're medically evaluated, what those decisions will be and as NAE said that is currently being developed. It needs to be very carefully done.