Health Ministry reports no current hantavirus cases in Israel

The Health Ministry says there is no patient in Israel with the hantavirus, according to Hebrew news media.

There is an unconfirmed report of a patient who returned to Israel from Europe with hantavirus in December 2025.

However, Dr. Daniel Grupel of the clinical microbiology and infectious diseases department at Hadassah Hospital says he isn’t aware of any recent case of hantavirus in Israel.

He also says that the virus on the cruise ship, MV Hondius, is New World Hantavirus, which can be transmitted between humans.

“It is a different virus altogether and more severe than the disease found in Europe,” he says, with that virus being passed from rodents to humans.

“I think this is a really bad situation for the people on the cruise ship right now, but Hantavirus is probably not the next pandemic,” Grupel says, “and there is no reason for anxiety in the general public.”

According to the World Health Organization, seven cases have been identified on the ship, including three deaths, one critically ill patient, and three individuals reporting mild symptoms. The ship is now heading to the Canary Islands.

Symptoms include fever, gastrointestinal symptoms and acute respiratory distress syndrome.