Cruise ship passenger with hantavirus being treated in Zurich

Crew members wearing hazmat suites leave the port on an ambulance boat towards the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 6, 2026. [AFP]

A former passenger on a cruise ship stricken by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is being treated in a Zurich hospital for the disease, Swiss authorities said Wednesday.

"One person has tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland," said a Swiss health ministry statement.

The man was being treated at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) and the ministry said the hospital was "prepared to deal with such cases, is able to care for the patient, and guarantee the safety of staff and all patients".

"There is currently no risk to the Swiss public."

According to the statement, the man returned from a trip to South America with his wife at the end of April, "after travelling on the cruise ship on which there were a number of hantavirus cases".

The MV Hondius cruise ship has been at the centre of an international alert since Saturday, when the World Health Organization was informed that three passengers had died and the suspected cause was hantavirus. The rare virus is usually spread from infected rodents typically through urine, droppings and saliva.

The Dutch-flagged ship set sail from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 and has been anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday.

'Noticed symptoms'

The cruise counted 88 passengers and 59 crew members, with 23 nationalities onboard, the World Health Organization said.

With the patient in Zurich, the WHO said there were now three confirmed hantavirus cases linked to the ship -- including one of the fatalities and a British passenger in intensive care in Johannesburg -- and five suspected cases.

The United Nations' health agency said on X that the man "had responded to an email from the ship's operator (Oceanwide Expeditions) informing the passengers of the health event, and presented himself to a hospital in Zurich".

The Swiss ministry did not say when the man being treated in Zurich had left the ship.

It said he "noticed symptoms" after returning, and had contacted his doctor and then gone to the USZ for further assessment.

A test carried out by Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) revealed he had hantavirus, it said.

HUG said the test, conducted on Tuesday, had confirmed the man had the Andes strain -- the only known hantavirus strain that can be passed between humans.

The Swiss ministry stressed that transmission of the strain, found in South America, "only occurs through close contact".

The ministry said it "therefore considers the occurrence of further cases in Switzerland unlikely" and that "the risk to the public in Switzerland is low".

It said the patient's wife had not shown symptoms, but was "self-isolating as a precaution".

Regional authorities were "investigating whether the patient came into contact with other people during the infectious period", it added.

The WHO meanwhile said it would "continue to work with countries to ensure that the patients, contacts, passengers and crew have the information and support they need to stay safe and prevent spread".