Spanien bestätigt dritten Hantavirus-Fall — WHO meldet 13 Fälle weltweit

On 25–26 May 2026, Spain's Ministry of Health confirmed a third case of Andes hantavirus among MV Hondius passengers — the second Spanish national to test positive since the cruise ship outbreak began in early May. The case was not discovered through symptoms but through routine, periodic PCR screening of the 14 Spanish nationals quarantined at Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla in Madrid.

How the case was found

Spain's quarantine protocol for MV Hondius passengers at Gómez Ulla Hospital includes scheduled PCR tests at regular intervals throughout the 42-day monitoring window. The Ministry of Health confirmed: "The positive case has been detected during the periodic diagnostic checks carried out on the contacts under follow-up." The patient was already in isolation at the time of the positive result, so no additional contacts needed to be traced immediately. On confirmation, the patient was transferred to the hospital's High-Level Isolation Unit.

This is significant: it means Spain's systematic testing approach is doing exactly what it was designed to do — catching infections before symptoms appear and before an exposed person returns to the community.

Spain's three cases — a full timeline

• Case 1 (8 May): A South African woman in Alicante tested PCR-positive after exposure to a deceased Dutch passenger. She was self-isolating with mild symptoms.
• Case 2 (12 May): A Spanish male MV Hondius passenger at Gómez Ulla Hospital tested PCR-positive on arrival screening. Low-grade fever and mild respiratory symptoms developed on 14 May; as of 19–21 May he was "progressing well."
• Case 3 (25–26 May): A second Spanish national in the Gómez Ulla quarantine cohort tests positive in routine periodic PCR. Asymptomatic at detection; transferred to the High-Level Isolation Unit.

Case 1 involved a non-Spanish national on Spanish territory. Cases 2 and 3 are both Spanish nationals who were repatriated from Tenerife to Gómez Ulla on 10 May as part of the coordinated evacuation operation. Fourteen Spanish nationals from the ship remain under quarantine at the hospital.

WHO: outbreak total rises to 13, situation stable

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the new case publicly, confirming it as the 13th official WHO-tracked case globally:

"Spain reported a new case among the passengers who are in quarantine, which brings the total number of cases to 13. The situation remains stable."

— WHO Director-General Tedros, 26–27 May 2026

Three deaths have now occurred — all before or shortly after the ship's arrival at Tenerife on 9 May. No new fatalities have been reported since 2 May 2026, a span of more than three weeks.

ECDC updates to 13 cases; case definition revised

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published a surveillance update on 26 May 2026 reflecting the Spanish case, reporting 11 laboratory-confirmed + 2 probable = 13 total cases, 3 deaths, CFR 23%. The agency simultaneously revised its case definition to align with WHO: a confirmed case now requires laboratory confirmation of ANDV by PCR and/or serology — the addition of serology (blood antibody tests) as sufficient for confirmation brings ECDC in line with the WHO standard.

ECDC maintains that the risk to the general EU/EEA population remains very low. All repatriated passengers continue their 42-day home monitoring, which ends in late June 2026.

What this means for the outbreak trajectory

The detection of Case 3 inside an already-controlled quarantine setting is a different scenario from an unexpected community transmission event. Key points:

• No community spread: The patient was already isolated; there is no indication of spread beyond the quarantine cohort.
• Long incubation window: Andes hantavirus has an incubation period of 1–8 weeks (WHO guidance uses up to 42 days for contact tracing). Cases appearing within quarantine windows are expected given this biology.
• Protocol working: Spain's decision to quarantine all repatriated passengers rather than relying on symptom self-monitoring allowed this case to be caught asymptomatically.
• No new WHO DON: WHO has not issued a new Disease Outbreak News since DON-601 (13 May). The agency considers updates via press statement and ECDC surveillance sufficient for the current trajectory.

Current global case map

As of 29 May 2026, the HantaCount headline total stands at 18 cases across 15 countries, 3 deaths, CFR 17%. The headline sum — which aggregates national health agency reports from UKHSA, RIVM, Santé publique France, ISCIII, RKI and others — is higher than the WHO/ECDC official count (13) because it captures cases that national authorities have confirmed but that have not yet been formally included in a WHO Disease Outbreak News cycle. See our methodology page for the full explanation.

For the live map and full country breakdown, see the HantaCount live tracker. For background on how Andes virus spreads person-to-person, see person-to-person transmission explained.

Sources

• Spain Ministry of Health — official statement, 25–26 May 2026
• WHO Director-General Tedros statement, 26–27 May 2026 (via Newser / US News)
• ECDC Andes hantavirus surveillance update, 26 May 2026 (15:00 CET)
• Euronews — "Health ministry confirms second hantavirus case in Spain: 2 patients in Madrid quarantine," 25 May 2026
• BERNAMA — "Spain Confirms New Hantavirus Case Among Those Quarantined At Madrid Hospital," 26 May 2026
• The National News — "Spanish patient at Madrid hospital tests positive for hantavirus," 26 May 2026