A Douglas County resident who died after contracting hantavirus was not connected to the outbreak on Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, Colorado public health officials said this week.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials confirmed the case on Saturday and said a preliminary investigation shows the resident got sick after being exposed to rodents, which is the most common way people are infected.
“CDPHE is working closely with our local partners following standard protocols to investigate this case and identify the source of exposure,” spokesperson Hope Shuler said in a statement, adding that the risk to the general public is low.
Colorado doesn’t see many , but they do occur somewhat regularly – the state usually records a handful of infections from the Sin Nombre hantavirus every year, most commonly in the spring and summer, according to public health records. The virus can also develop into a severe and sometimes deadly respiratory illness known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Deer mice are the most common hantavirus source in Colorado, and people can prevent illness by avoiding exposure to rodents and their urine, feces, saliva and nesting material, state officials said.
There have been 132 cases of Sin Nombre since the disease was discovered in the Four Corners region in 1993, and 47 of those cases were fatal, with the last fatal case recorded in 2024, according to state officials.
Person-to-person transmission is rare and happens with “close and prolonged contact,” like among people who live together or are intimate partners, according to the One specific strain, the Andes virus found in South America, is the only known exception that can rarely spread between people. This is the strain that was , but is different from the Sin Nombre hantavirus found in Colorado.
Eleven people contracted hantavirus on a small Dutch cruise ship, the MV Hondius, earlier this month, which is the first outbreak of its kind. The outbreak killed three people, including a Dutch couple that officials believe first contracted the virus in South America.
The outbreak raised public concerns about another COVID-like disease, but WHO officials have said the
French medical officials on Saturday said scientists had from a MV Hondius case and confirmed that it matches what was previously known about the virus and that there is no evidence itap more transmissible or more dangerous.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
