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NEW: Hantavirus Case Identified In Israel Amid Cruise Ship Outbreak
Israel has recorded its first confirmed case of hantavirus, with a patient believed to have been infected during a stay in Eastern Europe several months ago, according to a report from Maariv.
The patient sought medical attention after developing symptoms associated with the disease and was first screened with an antibody test that showed exposure. A follow-up PCR test later confirmed the infection, the report said.
At this stage, officials have not released the patient’s identity, place of residence or the medical center where the diagnosis was made. The patient’s condition is described as stable and they have not required intensive care or strict isolation, though they remain under medical observation. The case has been reported to Israel’s Health Ministry, according to Maariv.
The Israel case is emerging as health authorities across the globe scramble to contain a separate outbreak tied to the MV Hondius cruise ship, where multiple passengers have died and others have fallen ill.
More than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak without contact tracing nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board, the ship’s operator and Dutch officials said Thursday.
Health authorities on at least four continents are now tracking down and in some cases monitoring the cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.
The World Health Organization said the risk to the wider public is low because hantavirus, usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, isn’t easily transmitted between people.
“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries,” said Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO’s alert and response director.
🇮🇱 Separately, Israel just confirmed its first hantavirus case. A different, European strain, from a traveler who visited Eastern Europe. Stable patient, no human-to-human risk.
2 hantavirus stories in 1 day. Both individually manageable. But together they’re a signal.
WHO says… pic.twitter.com/GP3x9bxSN1
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 7, 2026
The Dutch health ministry said Thursday that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger in South Africa was showing symptoms of hantavirus and would be tested in an isolation ward at a hospital in Amsterdam.
The cruise passenger, also a Dutch woman, was too ill to fly and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.
If the woman tests positive, she could be the first known person not on the MV Hondius to become infected in the outbreak.
Three cruise ship passengers have died in the outbreak, and several others are sick. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
None of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship are currently symptomatic, the ship’s operator said.
Three people, including the ship’s doctor, were evacuated Wednesday while the ship was near the West African island country of Cape Verde and taken to specialized hospitals in Europe for treatment.
The body of the Dutch man who was the first to die on board on April 11 was taken off the ship on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena on April 24, when his wife also disembarked. She then flew to South Africa a day later and died there.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Netherlands-based cruise ship company, said Thursday that 30 passengers left the vessel at St. Helena, while the Dutch Foreign Ministry put the number at about 40. The company had not previously said publicly that dozens more people left the ship on April 24.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger on the ship, the WHO says. That was in a British man evacuated from the ship to South Africa from Ascension Island three days after the St. Helena stop. He was tested in South Africa and is in intensive care there.
Israeli officials have emphasized that the local case appears tied to travel in Eastern Europe, and not the South American Andes strain currently drawing international attention aboard the MV Hondius.
RELATED: Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak: Authorities Race To Track Down 40 Passengers Worldwide
That strain distinction matters, but the basic public health concern is the same: hantavirus infections are typically linked to exposure to infected rodents or contaminated environments, not casual contact in everyday settings. That is why officials are focusing so heavily on monitoring passengers and tracing potential exposure routes connected to the cruise ship’s movements.
For Israel, the first confirmed case will likely sharpen awareness among clinicians and travelers as international health agencies keep eyes on the Hondius outbreak and any signs it has spread beyond the ship.
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