Almost immediately after news broke of a hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius in spring 2026, rumors about the family of viruses and the rare but dangerous diseases they can cause in humans began proliferating online.
Health officials have assured the public that as of early May, the cruise ship's infectious cases — which were caused by the Andes strain of the virus — did not pose a high risk to the global population. Still, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the news of a deadly viral outbreak fueled speculation about past hantavirus cases and a supposed "prediction" that hantavirus would follow after "Corona."
Here are eight rumors Snopes has looked into about hantavirus.
