Minnesota health department monitoring 1 who may have been exposed to hantavirus overseas

The Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday afternoon that it is monitoring a person who was potentially exposed to someone who tested positive for hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The department said in a statement that the person they're monitoring was overseas when they were possibly exposed to the individual who tested positive. The person in Minnesota does not have any symptoms, according to the department.

The risk to the public remains very low, the department emphasized.

"MDH is in contact with the person who was exposed. They have been very cooperative, and we are monitoring them daily for symptoms," the health department said. 

Health officials around the world are monitoring the outbreak, which has claimed three lives. So far, there are at least eight other confirmed or suspected cases tied to the Dutch-flagged cruise ship.

Hantavirus is part of a family of viruses carried by rodents that can spread to people. According to the MDH, the Andes strain is the only type of the virus known to spread from person to person, though transmission is limited to people who have had close contact with an infected person.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 890 recorded cases of Hantaviruses in the Upper Midwest between 1993 and 2023. Of that total, only two were reported in Minnesota, and five in Wisconsin.