Swiss Patient Being Treated in Zürich After Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship
A Swiss man is being treated at the University Hospital Zürich after testing positive for hantavirus following a voyage on the MV Hondius, a Dutch expedition cruise ship at the centre of a growing international outbreak.
The man and his wife returned from a South American trip in late April, before the ship was placed under quarantine. After developing symptoms, he contacted his GP and was directed to the University Hospital Zürich, where he was immediately isolated. His wife has shown no symptoms but entered precautionary self-isolation. The hospital confirmed on Wednesday that the patient is in a stable condition.
The Outbreak
The MV Hondius, owned by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Argentina on 1 April with plans to visit Antarctica and several remote South Atlantic islands. A Dutch man died on board on 11 April; his wife disembarked at Saint Helena and later died in a South African hospital on 26 April. As of 4 May, seven cases had been identified, two laboratory confirmed and five suspected — including three deaths, one critically ill patient, and three with mild symptoms. With the Swiss case confirmed, the total tally rose to eight, with three confirmed and five suspected.
Three patients were evacuated from the vessel, with two landing in Amsterdam where specialist medical teams received them. The ship departed Cape Verde for Tenerife, though local politicians in the Canary Islands have been wrangling over whether to allow it to dock.
A Rare and Dangerous Strain
The variant identified is the Andes strain — significant because it is the only known type of hantavirus capable of limited human-to-human transmission. The WHO believes the infection chain originated with the Dutch couple, who may have contracted the virus on land in Argentina before boarding. The standard European form of hantavirus spreads only through contact with infected rodent droppings or urine — not between people.
Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) assessed the risk to the broader Swiss population as low, noting that hantavirus infections in Switzerland are rare, with zero to six cases reported annually in recent years, most of them acquired abroad.
