Reacción a "Spain will receive the cruise ship with an outbreak of hantavirus to the Canary Islands, following a request from the WHO and the EU"

No country that receives a request for assistance may refuse it, except due to a lack of resources. Spain has a Network of High-Level Isolation Units (UATAN) and a Public Health Surveillance Network for monitoring potential contacts.

Hantaviruses are transmitted through environmental exposure from rodents and, in rare cases, following very close contact with an infected person (secondary transmission). The case fatality rate in Argentina in 2025 was 25%, and there have been few outbreaks where tertiary transmission has been sustained—that is, where one case has infected another person, who then infects yet another.

Pending the results of the investigation, based on the onset of symptoms and the incubation period, the leading hypothesis is that exposure prior to boarding was the source of the infection, though exposure during the voyage—whether on shore excursions to the islands or in the cabin of an infected passenger—cannot be ruled out.

Now that the sick individuals have been evacuated, it is time to assess, monitor, transfer, and maintain the quarantine of those who were in very close contact with these sick individuals.

It is possible that the epidemiological information may change in the coming hours, but based on what is known, experience with previous situations, and drills conducted, this scenario would still represent a very low level of risk (the lowest of the four levels) for the Spanish population. That said, within the cruise ship, it cannot be ruled out that some contacts may develop symptoms in the coming days and require evacuation.