Global Hantavirus Outbreak Map
Countries with confirmed cases, suspected cases, and outbreak reports · Source: WHO Disease Outbreak Notices
Map and global stats refreshed every 6 hours from live sources
Global Stats — 2026 Outbreak
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Countries appear on the map only when they have active confirmed cases, suspected cases under investigation, or are the exposure origin for this outbreak. Red indicates confirmed cases or exposure origin; amber indicates suspected/probable cases under investigation. Updated every 6 hours automatically.
MV Hondius — 2026 outbreak
The current outbreak originated aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius. Passengers who had visited Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay were exposed to Andes hantavirus before boarding. WHO assessed global risk as low. Andes virus is the only known hantavirus with limited human-to-human transmission.
Data notes
Map countries are identified by automated parsing of WHO Disease Outbreak Notices, updated every 6 hours directly from WHO sources. Only countries with active confirmed cases, active suspected cases under investigation, or pre-voyage exposure links are shown. Global case counts are extracted from the latest WHO DON. All figures are approximate — refer to WHO and national health authorities for official counts.
Why hantavirus distribution varies by region
Hantaviruses do not move with people. They are tied to specific rodent species, and each rodent species has its own geographic range. This is why hantavirus is not a single global disease but a family of regional ones — the strain you can be exposed to depends almost entirely on where you live or travel.
The disease the virus causes also splits along regional lines. In the Americas, hantaviruses cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) — a respiratory disease in which the lungs fill with fluid. In Europe and Asia, hantaviruses cause Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS) — a kidney-centred illness with vascular leakage. The same virus family, two very different clinical pictures, driven by which strain a person is exposed to.
Within each region, case counts rise and fall with rodent population cycles. Cool, wet springs followed by abundant seed production (mast years) drive rodent booms; the following autumn and winter typically see a surge of human cases. This pattern is visible in PAHO alerts for Argentina and Chile, in CDC data from the Four Corners region of the United States, and in Finnish and Belgian Puumala outbreak years.
Regional breakdown
The Americas
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome was first recognised in 1993 in the Four Corners region of the United States. The Americas is the only region in the world where hantavirus routinely causes the pulmonary form of disease — a respiratory illness with one of the highest case fatality rates of any endemic viral infection. Sin Nombre virus dominates in North America, carried by the deer mouse. In South America, Andes virus circulates in the long-tailed pygmy rice rat and is the only known hantavirus strain capable of limited human-to-human transmission — the same strain responsible for the 2026 MV Hondius cluster.
- United States— Sin Nombre — Western states (NM, CO, AZ, UT) account for ~50% of historical cases
- Argentina— Andes virus — annual cases concentrated in Patagonia and the Andean Northwest
- Chile— Andes virus — endemic in southern and central regions
- Brazil— Multiple strains including Juquitiba; Southern and Southeastern states
- Uruguay— Andes-related strains; small annual case count
- Bolivia— Laguna Negra and related strains
- Panama— Choclo virus — Los Santos peninsula
- Canada— Sin Nombre — Western provinces (BC, Alberta)
Europe
Europe sees thousands of HFRS cases annually, almost all caused by Puumala virus carried by the bank vole. Most cases produce a milder form of HFRS known as nephropathia epidemica, with the kidney as the primary affected organ. Northern and Central European countries — particularly Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, and the Baltic states — see the heaviest burden, with case counts rising sharply in years with mast seeding events (when oak and beech trees produce abundant seed, driving up rodent populations). The Balkans see the more severe Dobrava-Belgrade variant.
- Finland— Puumala — highest European incidence; ~1,000–3,000 cases/year
- Sweden— Puumala — Northern Sweden, peak in mast years
- Germany— Puumala — endemic foci in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia
- Belgium— Puumala — eastern Belgium; cyclical epidemics
- Russia (European)— Puumala dominant; Bashkortostan reports the most cases
- Balkans— Dobrava-Belgrade — Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Greece
- Estonia / Latvia / Lithuania— Saaremaa and Puumala variants
Asia
Asia is the historical home of the disease — the original Hantaan virus was identified along the Hantan River in Korea after thousands of UN troops fell ill during the Korean War. China reports the largest annual case burden globally, with tens of thousands of HFRS cases per year concentrated in central and eastern provinces. Seoul virus is unusual in being carried by the Norway and black rats — which means urban exposure is possible, and Seoul-associated HFRS has been documented in cities worldwide via these commensal rodents.
- China— Hantaan and Seoul — Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Shandong; ~10,000–20,000 cases/year
- South Korea— Hantaan — autumn peak around rural rice harvests
- Russia (Far East)— Hantaan and Amur variants
- Japan— Historical Seoul-virus outbreaks linked to lab rats; sporadic cases
Reading the map colours
Countries with laboratory-confirmed hantavirus cases in the current WHO Disease Outbreak Notice. For the 2026 MV Hondius event this also includes the exposure-origin countries (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) where passengers were infected before boarding.
Countries reporting cases that meet WHO clinical or epidemiological criteria but have not yet been laboratory-confirmed. Suspected cases can move into the confirmed group once PCR or serology results return — or be ruled out entirely.
Countries that have endemic hantavirus circulation but no active cases in the current WHO DON are not coloured. Endemic background risk is described in the regional breakdown above.