Five hantavirus cases, three deaths, and a global cruise scare. The likely vector wasn’t the ship at all. It was a Ushuaia shore excursion.
The Outbreak In Five Sentences
Three passengers on the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius died after contracting the Andes strain of hantavirus during a recent voyage. Five cases were confirmed and three more were suspected, with two sick passengers and crew and one possibly infected passenger evacuated to specialized hospitals in Europe. The World Health Organization confirmed the cluster on May 7. Cruise media seized on the story immediately, with most coverage framing the ship itself as the danger. Americans onboard were transported to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Medical Center for quarantine, evaluation, and treatment. This is the same Med Center that has treated cases of ebola, initial COVID cases, etc. The Argentine investigation tells an interesting story.
The Ship Is Where It Was Discovered, Not Where It Happened
The 2020s trained the travel industry to default to ship-based explanations for cruise outbreaks. Norovirus on Princess. Legionella on Carnival. Covid on Diamond Princess. The pattern is consistent and the reflex is reasonable. But the reflex is also wrong here. The “Andes virus” strain of hantavirus is not waterborne, not foodborne, and not transmitted via shared surfaces in the way norovirus is. It is transmitted primarily through contact with infected rodent droppings or, more rarely, human-to-human in close contact. The ship is not a likely amplifier. The ship is a coincidence of geography.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reported fewer than 900 Americans tested positive for hantavirus infections over a 20-year period, at least one famous case caused the death of Gene Hackman’s wife in their New Mexico home. It’s unknown if he died by human-to-human transmission as he was unwell at the time. While health authorities are cautious and treating the disease as serious, widespread infection and health security concerns remain unlikely at this time.
The Ushuaia Landfill Theory
Argentine investigators have publicly identified a Ushuaia landfill tour as the likely point of exposure. A Dutch couple is believed to have been exposed to the virus during a shore excursion through the city before boarding the Hondius. Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost major port and the embarkation point for most Antarctic expedition cruises, has a known rodent presence and an unusual local economy that includes informal tours of public works and peripheral industrial areas. Several local operators run walking tours that pass through landfill or industrial fringe zones (why? I have no idea.) None of those operators are vetted by the cruise lines that bring passengers to Ushuaia.
If the landfill theory holds, the ship was not the source of exposure. The ship was the diagnostic environment, the place where symptoms emerged in close enough quarters that the cluster became visible. The shore excursion was the exposure event, and the operator was outside the cruise line’s chain of custody but still became everyone’s problem. With hantavirus, ships may seem particularly risky but cases remain incredibly rare.
Landfill Tours?
My luxury travel agency, Scott & Thomas Travel Personalized is one of the top five in North America for sending travelers to Antarctica. Never once have we (to my knowledge) sent someone on a landfill tour. I don’t know if we would have honored their request if they made one – it seems like an unnecessary risk regardless of the rat situation. Pre-cruise shore programs typically include optional walking tours, hikes in Tierra del Fuego National Park, and city excursions arranged through local third-party operators.
I had a look through a couple of hundred Viator and Expedia excursions and tours and couldn’t find a single one that tours a landfill. I couldn’t find one from any of our private vendors either. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why anyone would want to tour a landfill and it’s puzzling. Surely, there must have been a reason but I can’t even find a provider.
Recently, the Independent published a story that the landfill visit might have been part of a bird-watching tour. That seems a little more on target as nature is the primary motivator for most Antarctica visits. And thinking of landfills I have seen (but not visited), birds indeed gather to eat food waste. I’m still perplexed, however, that what I would imagine are primarily seagulls would be a big enough draw to bring travelers who are paying $10,000, 20,000 – even $60,000 for a week in Antarctica are trudging through rat excrement and trash.
What This Means For Antarctic Cruise Bookings
If you have an Antarctic expedition booked for the 2026-2027 season, the practical advice is to ask one specific question before departure, who runs the Ushuaia shore excursions and how are they screened. The answer should be the cruise line itself, or a named operator with a documented relationship. Mostly, avoid any tour operators frequenting unsanitary locations. Urban explorer tours sometimes take travelers underneath a city where stagnant water, rats, bats, and sewage are present. Avoid this. It seems obvious but apparently, it’s not.
Cancellation rates on Antarctic cruises have not spiked, in fact, this week bookings were strong as ever. The protocol is usually quite strict. Travelers to the continent must have their clothes cleaned and boots washed and inspected before entering the continent to avoid any contamination to the sensitive ecosystem – perhaps this must be extended embarkation as well.
Conclusion
The Hondius story has been portrayed as a cruise story because cruise stories are easy to sell. The issue of this event taking place on a ship is certainly part of the story, but infection occurred prior and due to poor judgement at least in part. If the Argentine authorities conclude the landfill visit, either for bird watching or otherwise was ground zero, the government will likely step in and halt the offering. The ship was the visible part of the problem. The vendor still hasn’t been confirmed. The next round of expedition cruise contracts is going to look different for guests, contractors, and operators.
What do you think?
Thank you Kyle. This post explains the most likely reason for the virus appearing on a small vessel. Those that tried the landfill tours may never have known what they were getting into. ( cannot imagine dump tourism being an attraction ). Contaiment in Nebraska should give some answers as well as the precautionary decontamination of the ship.
Happy mother’s day
Thank you!
Gee, I’ve visited a lot of places, but have never been offered one of a landfill.
In the takeover of the DC golf course, trump used it as a landfill for construction debris. I am sure it’s um, fine.
Why Birds (and Birders) Congregate at LandfillsAbundant Food Supply: Landfills are “all-you-can-eat buffets” for omnivorous birds. Human food scraps and waste attract large numbers of gulls, crows, and vultures.Presence of Predators: The high density of scavengers and rodents attracts larger birds of prey, such as Bald Eagles and Snowy Owls, which use landfills as prime hunting grounds.Rare and Unusual Species: Birders often visit landfills specifically to find “out-of-range” or rare species that are attracted to the reliable food source, such as the Tamaulipas Crow in Texas or rare gulls from the Arctic.Diverse Habitats: Landfills often contain a “mosaic” of habitats, including active dumping areas, ponds, and large expanses of open grassland. Capped (closed) landfills can become vital sanctuaries for declining grassland birds like the Eastern Meadowlark and Grasshopper Sparrow.Ease of Observation: Because landfills are busy industrial sites, the birds often become accustomed to the heavy equipment and presence of people, allowing birders to observe them from relatively close distances.
@KB – That’s interesting detail, thank you.
I am not sure if this was your intention but why do I feel an unnecessarily strong defense for cruise tourism from this post? I think most people think or guess that the rat was not present on the ship and someone was exposed to the virus on the ground. However the cruises are highly vulnerable when infectious disease spreads, for two reasons: cannot move away from the infection because you can be stuck on the ship for days (sadly this is exactly what happened in this case, a very bad timing) and not have the access to advanced medical facilities/testing, diagnosis and treatment especially if you are sailing in the middle of the ocean. For a flight you will land somewhere within hours but sailing can take days … In general I am quite against cruises over a long period of time for this reason as I don’t see the benefits over the risk. But that is me and some people are different. However I do feel like many people share the same sentiment with me regarding the risks
The author’s bio reveals a possible financial interest.,He owns a travel agency.
@Jim – Absolutely, and I state it in the article clearly. Nothing to hide.
@Ken – My “defense” really is more around the media draw both to make it out to be the next COVID, which this does not appear to be at this time, and that if this happened in a hotel, or at an amusement park, or on a train, it wouldn’t carry the same connotation. I don’t disagree that there are risks for infection inside of any confined space, but the purpose of the article is to note the point of infection was unlikely on the ship, and further, that it’s from a pretty odd tour if true. Birder or not, touring a landfill and then boarding a cruise ship, a train, or sitting in a bus with strangers is really odd.
Landfills (and sewage treatment plants) are indeed popular places to bird. When I first heard this, as a fellow birder, it didn’t strike me as unusual at all.
@Craig – It’s logical when you think about it, but still odd.
Don’t cruise ships get provisions at every port? I had thought the ship probably picked up contaminated food or something else that somehow made its way into dining or drinks on board.
@Nun – On Antarctica sailings, the only provisions are the departure point, usually Ushuaia but sometimes Point Arenas, Chile. In either case, the vessel will never actually dock, only run expeditionary tenders to the shore and return to Argentina or Chile.
Many cruise line excursions are prohibitively expensive. So half the time we take private tours at half the price. It’s impossible to chain of custody what people do and where they go once they disembark at a port. You can mitigate but can’t prevent. Forget shore excursions. You should see how people act at a buffet.
As expected, cruise lines are stepping up their rodent control and disinfection protocols, which are the main source of hantavirus. The M/V Hondius case has once again demonstrated us the critical importance of environmental monitoring and rapid case detection on board ships.
For maritime enthusiasts → The 7-year-old M/V Hondius is the first-registered Polar Class 6 vessel in the world, meeting the latest and highest Lloyd’s Register standards for ice-strengthened cruise ships. Surpassing the requirements of the Polar Code adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), M/V Hondius represents the most flexible, advanced, innovative touring vessel in the polar regions, thoroughly optimized for exploratory voyages that provide its guests with the utmost first-hand contact with the Arctic and Antarctica.
Spoken like a Company Spokesperson. The ship will change her name, the furor will die down, and everyone will forget the anti-virus death cruise.
Spoken like a mammal with a shell in the sky. May I suggest the name M/V Everything’s Fine. That way, when people ask, ‘what happened?’ The company can remind them, don’t worry about it, ‘everything’s fine.’
When it comes to Polar Class, the lower the number the better.
PC 6 and 7 are the least ice protected ships of the Polar Class vessels.
No PC1 ship has ever been built. Highest class in service is PC2 ships.
That includes the expedition cruise ship Le Commandant Charcot used for trips to the North Pole.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the risk to the general public to be low, the rare Andes strain of hantavirus, which carries a risk of human-to-human transmission, marks a new era for travel safety and health surveillance on the planet.
Ok someone who’s cruised 10+times 2 of which 14+ days. And been to Ushuaia. I never saw anything like a dump IN Ushuaia. The birding theory is plausible for why they might have wanted to go to something like a dump. Anyway after reading that comment about the ships class rating given I’m researching Antarctica expedition… I want to look into this boat now. Ha
I’ve also been to Ushuaia, and did not opt for the landfill tour. Bah!
If you google bird tours of Ushuiai landfill, a comment does indeed come up that its possible to see a particular type of raptor there, although the birding website that offers tours does not go there, merely mentions reports that it has been seen there.
The ship is entirely the most likely vector in which it’s likely the ship is just infested with rats which are eating/defecating in the food meant for guests, It’s just the cruise ship industry is desperate for people to go on cruises so they’re probably just lying until guests can actually prove there’s rats on the ship.
@No one – The source of the infection has not been proven one way or another, just investigated. Antarctica sailings and bookings are at an all-time high across the industry. Your doubt may be right about the source, but the thought that the industry is desperate for new travelers (Antarctica or elsewhere) is baseless.
Wealthy people do stupid things too aparently.