US health officials investigating possible hantavirus case not linked to cruise ship outbreak

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR/Gray News) - Health officials in Illinois are investigating a potential hantavirus case that is not associated with the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak.

The Illinois Department of Public Health said the person did not travel internationally.

The health department believes the Winnebago County resident contracted hantavirus while cleaning a home that had rodent droppings.

“Hantaviruses are mainly spread from rodents to people through rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. The potential case had direct contact with rodent droppings while cleaning and had symptoms consistent with an exposure to hantavirus,” Sandra Martell, public health administrator for the Winnebago County Health Department, said in a statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, is conducting additional testing to confirm the potential positive hantavirus case, the Illinois Department of Public Health said.

The individual is recovering from mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization.

Health officials believe the individual has the North American strain of the hantavirus, which is not spread from person to person. The strain is different from the Andes strain responsible for the cruise ship outbreak.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reassured that the risk of contracting hantavirus is very low.

“The suspected strain is not spread person to person. There is no risk to the community from this potential case and the resident is recovering,” Martell added.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is working with the CDC to confirm the person is positive for hantavirus.

Commercial lab antibody tests are not considered definitive by the CDC. The CDC testing process can take up to 10 days.

Illinois has had seven positive cases of hantavirus since 1993, the state’s health department said. The most recent case was in March 2025. Since surveillance began in 1993, the U.S. has recorded 890 cases of hantavirus.

The most common hantavirus strain in the U.S. is caused by exposure to rodent droppings and is not spread from person to person, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The rodent species known to carry the Andes hantavirus strain is not found in the U.S.