A potential hantavirus case not linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship has been reported in Illinois, according to the state’s health agency.
The resident, who lives in Winnebago County, didn’t travel abroad and they may have picked up the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Tuesday.
Their symptoms were mild and they didn’t require hospitalization.
Officials suspect the person may have contracted the North American hantavirus strain, rather than the Andes strain, which carries a mortality rate of 40%.
“Unlike the Andes strain responsible for the cruise outbreak, the North American strains are not known to spread from person to person,” the IDPH said.
“The risk of contracting Hantavirus of any kind remains very low for Illinois residents.”
Illinois has reported seven positive hantavirus cases since surveillance began in 1993 – the most recent being in March 2025.
Meanwhile, 890 hantavirus cases have been reported across the US between 1993 and 2023.
The 18 Americans evacuated from the MV Hondius are still being monitored by the authorities.
Sixteen are at a quarantine unit in Nebraska and currently remain asymptomatic while two are being monitored in Atlanta.
One person under quarantine at Atlanta’s renowned Emory University Hospital – which treated the US’ first Ebola patients in 2014 – showed symptoms but tested negative for the Andes strain, according to the Department of Health & Human Services.
The two patients were wearing protective gear when they touched down at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on Monday morning.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said “there’s nobody better to handle” the two patients than doctors at Emory.
“If you were one of those passengers that was stranded, especially if you are from Georgia, you would want your state to come to your aid and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he told reporters.
“You think about how they’ve dealt with folks that had Ebola that had been transported back here.”
A MV Hondius cruise passenger from Virginia is also being monitored, NBC4 reported.
Five other Americans are also being monitored for hantavirus despite not stepping foot on the ship.
Two New Jersey residents, two Marylanders, and one Californian are in isolation under the strict supervision of health department officials after they all took international flights that included passengers from the virus-stricken cruise.
None have exhibited any symptoms, and it’s unclear if they contracted the virus.
Hantavirus patients are being monitored for 42 days – which is the virus’ incubation period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The MV Hondius is currently en route to the Netherlands with just 25 crew, a doctor and a nurse on board, after it departed the Canary Islands Monday.
“Mission accomplished; we’ve just wrapped up the operation and the ship has just set sail,” Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said after the mammoth operation which saw 94 people evacuated.
With Post wires
