health
May 9, 2026
Alert in Italy for possible Hantavirus cases
Italy's Ministry of Health reported this Saturday that it is keeping four people under active surveillance who traveled on a flight where the woman who died of hantavirus in Johannesburg (South Africa), after leaving the cruise ship MV Hondius, was present for a few minutes.
TL;DR
- Four people in Italy are under active surveillance after traveling on a flight with a woman who died of hantavirus.
- The woman had disembarked from the cruise ship MV Hondius in South Africa.
- The contact with the deceased woman on the flight was brief and not close.
- One of the monitored individuals, a woman in Tuscany, has been quarantined.
- The risk to the general population is considered low globally and very low in Europe.
- An Italian doctor from the ECDC is on board the MV Hondius to assist with the outbreak.
- Three deaths have been confirmed linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius.
- Hantavirus is a zoonotic disease transmitted by rodents.