Hantavirus: A Spanish Passenger Tested Positive — The Complete Case Map

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Last night, the Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed it. A Spanish passenger evacuated from the MV Hondius has tested positive for the Andes virus.

[00:00:10]Asymptomatic currently in the Gomez Ula military hospital in Madrid under individual isolation. No visitors allowed. That makes Spain the latest country to confirm a positive case from this outbreak. and it gives us the most complete picture yet of exactly who has been infected, where they are, and what their current status is. Today, we are going to do something no other channel has done. Map every single confirmed and probable case from this outbreak, country by country, person by person, with the science behind each one. I'm Hyavi and this is Nivel 4. Let's start with the numbers as they stand right now. According to the World Health Organization, as of May 11th, there are seven confirmed cases and two additional probable cases pending laboratory results. Three people are dead, two confirmed as Hanta virus, one probable pending postmortem confirmation. That is 10 cases total across eight countries.

[00:01:10]Here is the complete map.

[00:01:12]The Netherlands, three cases, two deaths. The Dutch couple are the index cases. The origin of everything.

[00:01:22]A 70-year-old Dutch man began showing symptoms on April 6th. He died on board the ship on April 11th. His death was initially attributed to generic natural causes. Nobody on the ship knew it was havirus.

[00:01:38]His 69year-old wife disembarked at St. Helena on April 24, already sick. She boarded a KM flight at Johannesburg on April 25th, but was removed before takeoff. She died in a Johannesburg hospital on April 26th. She was the case that triggered the entire international response when her PCR came back positive on May 4th. A third Dutch national was evacuated from the ship and is being treated in the Netherlands. Status stable. These three cases share something critical. The couple almost certainly contracted the virus during their 4-month bird watching road trip through South America before ever boarding the ship. Every other case in this outbreak flows from their initial infection.

[00:02:24]United Kingdom, three cases, all British nationals. The UK picture is the most geographically complex of any country in this outbreak. The first British case is the passenger evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa on April 27th after developing pneumonia. He spent weeks in critical care in Johannesburg and is now recovering. He was the first case confirmed by PCR laboratory testing on May 2nd, the confirmation that triggered the WH notification and the entire international response. The second British case is a ship's guide, not a passenger, but a crew member who developed symptoms on April 27th and tested positive on May 6th. He was evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands on May 7th and is stable in isolation.

[00:03:16]The third British case is the most extraordinary of the three. He left the MV Hondas on April 14th at Tristan Duna.

[00:03:25]He developed symptoms on April 28th. The WH has listed him as a probable case pending laboratory confirmation. British Army paratroopers from the 16 Air Assault Brigade parachuted onto the island on May 10th to deliver medical supplies and two military clinicians, Alazera. Three British cases, three completely different locations. South Africa, the Netherlands, and the most remote inhabited island on Earth.

[00:03:54]Germany, one death. A German woman developed fever on April 28th and later developed pneumonia. She died on board the ship on May 2nd. A post-mortem sample was sent to the Netherlands with the evacuated patients where tests confirmed infection by the Andes virus.

[00:04:13]Alazer reported she died on the ship. Her body remained in cold storage on board for over a week before the ship docked in Tenneref.

[00:04:23]She is the third confirmed death of this outbreak.

[00:04:28]Switzerland, one confirmed case.

[00:04:32]The Swiss case is scientifically the most significant of all because it produced the genomic sequence that is now publicly available to the world. A Swiss resident was evacuated and treated at Geneva University Hospital. The Geneva Hospital confirmed the Andes strain on May 6th. The genomic sequence designated NDV Switzerland hu3337206 was published on viological.org on May 8th and is now on next strain for global scientific analysis. That sequence is the scientific legacy of this outbreak. It will be studied for years.

[00:05:13]United States one confirmed positive, one symptomatic, multiple monitored. Of the 18 Americans repatriated from Tenneref, 16 are at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, 15 in the quarantine unit and one in the bioontainment unit after testing mildly PCR positive.

[00:05:33]Two others are at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for further assessment. The American who tested positive is asymptomatic.

[00:05:42]The bioontainment unit at Nebraska is the most secure infectious disease facility in the United States. The governor of Nebraska pledged publicly that no one posing a public health risk would leave that facility. Beyond the repatriated passengers, health authorities in Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia are monitoring additional residents with aviation or indirect contact exposure.

[00:06:11]None have confirmed cases.

[00:06:15]France, one confirmed positive.

[00:06:19]A French woman repatriated from Tenneref felt unwell late on May 10th during the return flight to Paris and tested positive for Hanta virus. Her condition worsened overnight.

[00:06:30]The French prime minister confirmed the case within hours and implemented mandatory hospitalization for all five French passengers by government decree.

[00:06:39]Eight additional French nationals who shared a flight with an infected person are in hospital isolation as a precautionary measure. Alazer, Spain, one confirmed positive. The newest confirmed case as of last night.

[00:06:55]A Spanish passenger who was evacuated from the MV Hondas in Tenneref and transferred to the Gomez Oola Military Hospital in Madrid tested positive for the Andes virus. The Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed this Monday evening.

[00:07:10]The patient is asymptomatic.

[00:07:12]They are in individual isolation with no visitors permitted and will receive PCR testing at arrival. And again at day seven, Spain managed the most complex logistics of any country in this entire operation.

[00:07:27]receiving the ship, coordinating the evacuation of passengers from 23 nations, deploying the army, and now has its own confirmed case to manage at home.

[00:07:39]Tristan Duna, one probable case. The Tristan Dunia case is pending laboratory confirmation. The British paratroopers who landed on May 10th are providing medical care on the island. Test results have not yet been publicly confirmed.

[00:07:56]If positive, it would be the first confirmed case in a person who never left the island, infected through contact with ship passengers during the April 13th to 15th stop.

[00:08:08]Now, let's zoom out and look at what this map tells us scientifically.

[00:08:13]10 cases across eight countries from a single cruise ship with 150 people aboard over 41 days. The transmission chain flows in two directions. cases contracted directly on the ship through close sustained contact and cases emerging during and after the repatriation process from people who were incubating the virus without knowing it. The asymptomatic positives, the American and the Spaniard, are the most scientifically interesting cases in the current phase. Both tested positive with no symptoms. Both are within the incubation window. Both could either remain asymptomatic throughout or transition into the cardopulmonary phase at any moment. The birth prices on the MV Hondius ranged from 14,000 to €22,000.

[00:09:03]These were not budget travelers. They were people who saved for years or who had the resources to experience something most humans never will.

[00:09:12]Antarctica, St. Helena, Tristan Dunia.

[00:09:15]They paid up to €22,000 for the trip of a lifetime, and they came home carrying a virus with a 38% fatality rate. The incubation window remains open until June 9th. The 42-day monitoring periods for all repatriated passengers extend to late June. The genomic analysis will produce peer-reviewed results within months. This channel will be here for every confirmed result, every new case, and every scientific finding as it emerges. Subscribe to Nivel 4. Share this with someone following the story.

[00:09:51]Leave your questions in the comments.

[00:09:53]See you next time.