Colorado resident dies of deadly rat virus - but wasn't on the notorious cruise ship where outbreak began

A person living in Colorado has died of the hantavirus in a rare case that is not connected to the outbreak on a cruise ship that has killed three.

Health officials have said the infection in Douglas County appears to have come from exposure to local rodents and the risk to the general public is low.

Hantavirus is typically spread via breathing in dust from the droppings of infected rodents, which may be disturbed during sweeping or cleaning.

The CDC is currently monitoring 41 Americans across 16 states who had potential hantavirus exposure in connection to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

That outbreak is suspected to have been sparked after a Dutch couple contracted the Andes strain of the virus while bird watching in Argentina. They later died from the virus.

One American, a doctor who was a guest on the cruise ship and began treating ill passengers when the ship's doctor was sickened, tested positive for the virus, but he has since tested negative three times.

There are now ten hantavirus cases in connection with the cruise ship outbreak, including passengers and people who were exposed off the ship during travel.

About half of the Americans are being monitored by the CDC at quarantine centers in Georgia and Nebraska, while the other half are isolating at home.

The extremely rare virus was listed as the cause of death for Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, in February 2025, but cases are mostly among farmers, hikers, campers, and homeless populations, according to the CDC.

Hantavirus strains found in the US are not spread person-to-person like the Andes strain, which is behind the cruise ship outbreak.

Strains found in America are spread through mouse and rodent droppings, especially when urine, feces, or nesting materials are disturbed and become aerosolized.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned about the possibility of rare human-to-human transmission in the MV Hondius outbreak, as the Andes hantavirus strain has been linked to previous outbreaks where the virus has spread between people.

Hantavirus was first identified in South Korea in 1978 when researchers isolated it from a field mouse.

However, it only affects about 40 to 50 Americans each year, mostly in the southwest.

Between 1993 and 2022, 864 cases have been confirmed, the latest available CDC data shows.

Worldwide, there are about 150,000 to 200,000 cases per year, most of which are in China.

Hantavirus symptoms typically show up within one to eight weeks of exposure to infected rodents and include fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headache, dizziness, chills and abdominal or digestive issues.

After four to 10 days of the early symptoms, patients may experience shortness of breath, chest tightness and fluid in the lungs.

There is no specific treatment and patients are instead given supportive therapies like rest, hydration, and breathing support.

The rarity of hantavirus in the US is partly because the country has fewer rodent species that the illness can circulate amongst, compared to Asia and Europe, where multiple rodent species act as hosts.

In the US, deer mice are the most common carriers.