Risk to Public From Hantavirus Very Low: US Official

Seventeen Americans who were sailing on a cruise ship where a hantavirus outbreak occurred have been flown to Nebraska.

Passengers board a plane bound for Canada, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10, 2026. AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez

The risk to the public from an illness called the hantavirus is low, a U.S. official said on May 11.

“Let me be crystal clear: the risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low,” Dr. Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health and head of the U.S. Public Health Service, told reporters during a briefing in Omaha, Nebraska.