Posted on 05/10/2026 9:17:16 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The hantavirus cruise continues to stay on everyone’s mind as many of us prepare for the possibility of experts enforcing mask mandates and quarantine protocols. I don’t think it will come to that, but those who disembarked from a cruise ship that left Argentina last April are being monitored for exposure to a rare strain of the pathogen, which can be transmitted from person to person.
Hantavirus “Patient Zero” has been identified as Leo Schilperoord, a 70-year-old Dutch ornithologist who visited a landfill in Argentina, containing rodents potentially carrying the Andes virus strain.
pic.twitter.com/6EHWy2RH5u— Interesting AF (@interesting_aIl) May 9, 2026
Usually, hantavirus is spread by infected rodents through their urine or feces. It’s a rare strain, which is the good news. The bad news is that it has a 40 percent mortality rate. Who was patient zero? We’ve identified that person (via NYT):
Patient Zero in the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak has been identified as ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, whose passion for birds may have cost him his life.
The 70-year-old man and his wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, 69, were on a five-month trip to South America. They first landed in Argentina on Nov. 27, and traveling through Chile, Uruguay and then back to Argentina in late March, where they went on a fateful birdwatching adventure.
The couple — from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands — were identified in obituaries published in their monthly village magazine.
[…]
When the Schilperoords returned to Argentina on March 27, they visited a landfill four miles outside the city of Ushuaia.
The spot, overrun with trash, is avoided like the plague by its residents, but serves as a pilgrimage point for birdwatchers from all over the world in search of a rare creature — the white-throated caracara, nicknamed Darwin’s caracara after famed evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, the first to collect it.
The Ushuaia landfill is where Argentinian authorities suspect the Dutch couple inhaled particles from the feces of long-tailed pygmy rice rats, which carry the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus — the only form known to transmit from human to human.
So far, the federal government has no plans to impose a mandatory quarantine on Americans aboard this infected cruise ship, which recently arrived in the Canary Islands. Six states are monitoring passengers who were on board. Hantavirus has a long incubation period of up to eight weeks.
Hantavirus Ship Passenger Attended Wedding After Leaving Cruise
https://t.co/BhpyDG7E8d— Jess (@MeetJess) May 9, 2026
JUST IN: The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has officially arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands.— Polymarket (@Polymarket) May 10, 2026
A CDC official said the federal government doesn't plan to have the repatriated American cruise ship passengers quarantine upon arrival in Nebraska. https://t.co/BJ034SzI4p— ABC News (@ABC) May 9, 2026
NEW: 6 states are now monitoring passengers — and others — who may have crossed paths with people aboard the cruise ship linked to the hantavirus outbreak.
Virginia, Georgia, California, Arizona, and Texas are tracking both passengers and potential contacts. New Jersey is monitoring individuals who may have interacted with someone from the ship.The outbreak, which originated aboard the MV Hondius, has been linked to at least 3 deaths and 8 reported cases as of May 8, according to reports citing the World Health Organization.
pic.twitter.com/T4YCi7EaKm— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 9, 2026
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That’s it - I’m never going bird watching at an Argentinian trash dump again!
Where’s the Bingo Card guy?
Birdwatching! I can see getting gored while running with the bulls in Pamplona or trampled by the moose you are trying to pet in Yellowstone. But dying of birdwatching!?
That’s the newest World’s Deadliest Hobby.
“… The hantavirus cruise continues to stay on everyone’s mind…”
*************************************************
NO IT DOESN’T! I personally never think about it until yet another article pops up. Much ado about nothing and way overblown.
“Now if we can just keep this story going until the mid-terms...”
Fox Mulder: "Yeah, it was a deadly virus spread by field mice in the Southwestern United States several years ago."
Dr. Kurtzweil: "It's not the Hantavirus. It looks for all the world like the Hantavirus, but I can promise you that it's not. It's a smokescreen... A plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder."
The Truth Is Out There
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
I generally avoid those independent shore excursions. The local tour operators just can't be relied upon to give you access to "authentic" Third-World landfills. I mean, if you want to get up really close to the long-tailed pygmy rice rats and their aerosolized feces, it's best to go with the ship‑sponsored excursions every time!
Regards,
The Hantavirus has been in Arizona for awhile. Apparently the version out there is not as contagious or as deadly. You hear about a few handful of people with it every now and then.
I heard the X-Files was based on actual cases, so much so, it got them investigated. Sure, birdwatching in a garbage dump...nothing to do with mRNA, gain of function and having a vaccine ready to go, though we’re told they’re still working on it. They know how to keep the money rolling in while getting rid of “useless eaters.”
Like Gene Hackman’s wife.
Just fish, people!
No rats...no landfills!
Just the occasional tick bite that makes you sick for years or snake bites that kill you in minutes!
/s
Quarantined with no booze. What fun.
Outraged cruise passengers erupt as Bahamas booze ban impacts major voyages
Remember when Monkeypox was supposed to be something everyone would need to worry about? It just didn’t happen.
Same thing with Ebola and Zika Babies.
Yeah, an environmental loon and his wife visiting a garbage dump on their vacation. Now they’re dead.
Don’t be a loon!
Because people will not distinguish between the generic hantavirus and the Andes strain (human to human spread), there is likely to be a crackdown on rodents.
PETA will oppose the efforts to clean out rodent infestations.
The WHO will conflate generic hantavirus with the Andes strain.
Democrats will sow fear, panic and division.
Situation normal.
Floating experiment, unsuspecting passengers.
“prepare for the possibility of experts enforcing mask mandates and quarantine protocols.”
I plan to never wear a mask again, and go about my business.
I don’t believe there is law for enforcing masks.
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