French cruise passenger with hantavirus initially misdiagnosed as anxiety; condition critical

A French passenger evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship tested positive for hantavirus after presenting with flu-like symptoms that were initially dismissed by doctors as anxiety or stress. The woman, among five French passengers disembarked in Tenerife, developed severe symptoms overnight and was flown to Paris where she remains in critical condition in a specialized infectious diseases unit. The ship's outbreak, centered on the Andes virus strain (the only human-transmissible hantavirus variant), has resulted in 3 deaths and 8 confirmed cases among passengers and crew. Spanish health officials defended the evacuation approach, noting the difficulty of conducting rapid hantavirus testing aboard vessel and the urgent need to evacuate due to deteriorating weather conditions. All 149 passengers and crew were advised to isolate for 45 days following exposure. The outbreak is thought to have been introduced by Dutch travelers who visited Argentina before boarding.