(KRON) — The California Department of Public Health confirmed four California residents have been exposed to the Andes Hantavirus. The virus has killed three cruise passengers traveling from Argentina to the Canary Islands.
So far, none of the four Californians are infected or contagious, and the health department states the risk to the general public is extremely low.
On Monday, the last remaining passengers from the affected cruise ship disembarked in the Canary Islands. They boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.
Three cruise ship passengers have died, and at least six others have confirmed or suspected cases. Countless more individuals have been exposed.
Santa Clara County resident exposed to Hantavirus
Health workers in protective gear arrive to evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Among those exposed but showing no symptoms are four people from California. Two California cruise passengers joined more than a dozen others aboard a military flight to a quarantine facility in Nebraska.
A third Californian previously flew home to Santa Clara County before the outbreak was identified. A fourth Californian, who was not on the ship but was briefly seated on a plane in South Africa in close proximity to someone who had Hantavirus, flew home to Sacramento County.
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Dr. Erica Pan, Director of the California Department of Public Health, said at an online news conference Monday that neither the two Californians in Nebraska nor the two who flew home to California are showing symptoms.
Pan confirmed the exposed individuals are being closely monitored.
“Both of them are being monitored by their local health department at home, and they’re doing modified activities in alignment with our Centers for Disease Control guidance as well,” Pan said. “So they are limiting activities outside the home. They’re doing daily temperatures and in contact with their local health departments.”
The absence of symptoms is significant for other travelers.
Pan emphasized that an infected person must be ill to transmit the virus. “If you are a contact and you are flying, and you have no symptoms, you are not infected, and you are not infecting anyone else,” Pan said. “So there’s no concern that sort of a contact, of a contact could infect other people.”
The protocol for Hantavirus exposure is not to test unless symptoms appear within 42 days. Pan described potential early symptoms.
“Some of the early symptoms of Hantavirus can certainly be very non-specific, like a flu, like illness, fever is one of the things we’d be most concerned about,” Pan said. “But any kind of muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or certainly any respiratory symptoms progressive or worsening cough. So if any of those symptoms develop, then those individuals be tested.”
Transmission of the Andes Hantavirus occurs from person to person through prolonged close contact.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.