EU ships experimental hantavirus drug favipiravir to three countries for cruise ship patients

Topline

An experimental antiviral drug that scientists hope will be effective in treating patients sickened by a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship has been sent to France, Spain, and the Netherlands—where a handful of patients are being treated—the European Commission announced Thursday.

Timeline

Thursday, May 28, 2026

A total of 1,400 tablets of an experimental treatment called favipiravir were reportedly made available to EU member states by Fujifilm Pharmaceuticals in Japan. Individual countries will decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to use the medicine, which has not been approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Monday, May 25, 2026

A Spanish citizen who was evacuated from the MV Hondius and quarantining at a hospital in Madrid as a precaution tested positive for the virus weeks after leaving the ship. The patient has been moved to a high-level isolation unit at the same hospital.

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions announced that the MV Hondius will depart for its next trip, carrying passengers around the Svalbard islands near the North Pole for seven days, starting June 13.

Monday, May 18, 2026

• Oceanwide Expeditions announced that two scheduled voyages for the MV Hondius have been canceled. However, pending successful cleaning, the ship will resume its charters with the Svalbard trip in June as currently scheduled.
• World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the risk of hantavirus to the greater population is still "low" and "there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak."
• The MV Hondius arrived in the Netherlands carrying 25 crew members and two medical professionals, none of whom are showing any symptoms of the Andes strain of hantavirus. The ship will be disinfected using chlorine and peroxide over the next week, and crew members—most of whom are from the Philippines—will enter immediate quarantine.
• Researchers with the WHO and World Bank warned that the world is not prepared for the next inevitable pandemic, noting that global health research, prevention, and preparedness have not kept pace with an increasing frequency and intensity of infectious disease epidemics.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

• More than 40 people are being monitored, but there are no confirmed cases in the United States, CNBC reported.
• Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Oregon, who reportedly helped care for hantavirus-stricken patients aboard the ship before testing positive himself, was allowed to join his fellow passengers as they isolate at the National Quarantine Unit. He tested negative for hantavirus at least twice and remained asymptomatic for the disease.
• Health officials in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are pointing fingers at one another and trying to clear their countries from suspicion of being ground zero for the outbreak, the New York Times reported. They are racing to determine the origin of a virus that sickened a traveling Dutch couple before they boarded the MV Hondius and spread the disease to others.
• An early and unproven theory that the couple was exposed to the virus because of vermin at a landfill in Ushuaia—a resort city they apparently visited for birdwatching before the ship departed—has spread widely. However, Argentine officials said their visits did not align with the dates they are believed to have been infected or with places in the country where the Andes variant of hantavirus is known to exist.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

• Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Oregon, the U.S. citizen who initially tested positive for hantavirus, spoke to CNN from a biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He said he "feels wonderful" and is not experiencing symptoms.
• Spanish officials confirmed that after testing positive once for hantavirus, Kornfeld has since tested negative twice for the disease, meaning no Americans are among the nine confirmed cases of the illness.
• A French patient confirmed to have hantavirus is now critically ill with life-threatening heart and lung problems, a doctor at her Paris hospital confirmed.
• A symptomatic passenger who returned to America after disembarking the MV Hondius and is being cared for in Atlanta tested negative for hantavirus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
• A Spanish passenger who...