european end-to-end CDMO company, pharma services
LinkedIn Share

Hantavirus Vaccine Research in Light of 2026 Cases

  • Hantavirus vaccine research began following an outbreak of the virus on the MV Hondius. Three people died during the voyage from Argentina to Europe.
  • Hantaviruses are enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses of the order Bunyavirales that cause severe zoonotic diseases. Despite their importance to public health, no licensed vaccines are currently available.
  • Hantavirus vaccine development focuses on Gn–Gc spike complex. Mabion has experience in manufacturing subunit vaccines targeting viral spike proteins, as the NVX-CoV2373 vaccines used during the COVID-19 pandemic were designed for the same therapeutic purpose.

Hantavirus Outbreaks in 2026

In April 2026, an outbreak of hantavirus infection was identified on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. The cruise ship departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April 2026, and travelled across the South Atlantic Ocean, stopping at several remote locations, including Antarctica, South Georgia Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, and Ascension Island. It carried 147 people from 23 different countries. Let’s take a look at the timeline of the hantavirus outbreak:

  • The first death occurred early in the voyage. A passenger died from the virus on 11 April. His body was removed from the vessel in Saint Helena on 24 April, where his wife disembarked before dying two days later in hospital in Johannesburg.
  • On 2 May 2026, a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness aboard the cruise ship was reported to the World Health Organization.
  • On 6 May 2026, WHO confirmed that the type of hantavirus responsible for this outbreak is the Andes virus.
  • As of 8 May 2026, WHO reported eight cases (six confirmed and two suspected), including three deaths.
  • On May 11, the controlled evacuation of all passengers in Granadilla, Tenerife (Canary Islands) was completed. Passengers are leaving the ship wearing personal protective equipment, some in bio-isolation pods.
  • Most passengers were placed in quarantine or under epidemiological supervision upon returning to their home countries.

The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. This spread is usually limited to people who have close contact with the ill person, including direct physical contact, prolonged time in close or enclosed spaces, and exposure to the infected person’s saliva, respiratory secretions, or other body fluids. Andes virus is a hantavirus primarily found in South America that causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) with a high fatality rate. No effective antiviral treatment is available.

Hantavirus Vaccine Development

Hantavirus virions have a spherical shape with size varying between 80 and 120 nanometers. The virion is enclosed by a lipid bilayer envelope with embedded surface glycoproteins. Within the virion, the three genomic RNA segments are coated with nucleocapsid (N) protein molecules, forming ribonucleoproteins (RNPs), with a single molecule of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) attached to each RNA segment.

After assembly, the newly formed envelope contains spike-like projections formed by tetramers of the viral surface glycoproteins, which play an important role in both virus assembly and cell entry. Hantavirus vaccine research targets the Gn and Gc glycoproteins, the main surface proteins. Specific protein fragments (Domain III and the Stem Region) within the Gc glycoprotein act as the fusion machinery. Protein vaccines mimicking these regions can block infection by interfering with the fusion process.

We know that work on a vaccine is already underway and Mabion is ready to participate. We are open to partnering with any company that has a sound and feasible plan for developing a hantavirus vaccine. Contact us if you’d like to work with us. We offer advanced development platforms and manufacturing capacity dedicated to this project. More importantly, we have the experience gained from the COVID vaccine Mabion project.

Prepared by:

Jakub Knurek
Jakub Knurek

Marketing Specialist

j.knurek@mabion.eu

Sources and further reading

  1. Rissanen I, Krumm SA, Stass R, Whitaker A, Voss JE, Bruce EA, Rothenberger S, Kunz S, Burton DR, Huiskonen JT, Botten JW, Bowden TA, Doores KJ. Structural Basis for a Neutralizing Antibody Response Elicited by a Recombinant Hantaan Virus Gn Immunogen. mBio. 2021; 12(4): e0253120.
  2. Muyangwa M, Martynova EV, Khaiboullina SF, Morzunov SP, Rizvanov AA. Hantaviral Proteins: Structure, Functions, and Role in Hantavirus Infection. Front Microbiol. 2015; 6: 1326.
  3. Basu M. There is no vaccine for deadly hantavirus: what that means for future outbreaks. Nature. 2026; 653: 342.
  4. Brocato RL, Hooper JW. Progress on the Prevention and Treatment of Hantavirus Disease. Viruses. 2019; 11(7): 610.
  5. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Hantavirus infection. 2026.
  6. Keck E. Hantavirus: the ‘silent’ virus. PreventionWeb. UNDRR. 2026.
  7. Guo L, McFadden E, Slough M, Stone T, Berrigan J, Mittler E, Hatzakis K, Hinkley T, Kain HS, Ke Z, Warner NL, Erasmus JH, Chandran K, McLellan JS. High-resolution in situ structures of hantavirus glycoprotein tetramers. Cell. 2026; 189, 2731-2747.
  8. Meier K, Thorkelsson SR, Quemin ERJ, Rosenthal M. Hantavirus Replication Cycle-An Updated Structural Virology Perspective. Viruses. 2021; 13(8): 1561 (Erratum in: Viruses. 2023; 15(2): 273).
  9. Liu R, Ma H, Shu J, Zhang Q, Han M, Liu Z, Jin X, Zhang F, Wu X. Vaccines and Therapeutics Against Hantaviruses. Front Microbiol. 2020; 10: 2989.
  10. World Health Organization. Hantavirus. 2026.

FAQ

Hantavirus is a group of rodent-borne, enveloped RNA viruses that can infect humans and cause severe diseases such as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. People usually become infected by inhaling aerosolized particles from contaminated rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.
There is no specific antiviral treatment and no broadly available licensed vaccine for hantavirus infection; care is mainly supportive, including oxygen, intensive care, ventilation, fluids, and dialysis when needed. WHO says early supportive care and rapid referral to a fully equipped ICU can improve survival.
A vaccine could help prevent severe disease, reduce deaths, limit the impact of future outbreaks, and provide protection beyond emergency measures such as quarantine and epidemiological monitoring.
The outbreak is serious because Andes virus can cause severe disease, has already led to deaths, and has no specific antiviral treatment or widely available vaccine. However, the risk to the general public appears low because person-to-person transmission is uncommon and usually requires close, prolonged contact or exposure to body fluids. The main concern is not pandemic spread, but the urgent need for rapid detection, isolation, supportive care, and vaccine development to prevent future tragedies.
Yes, Andes hantavirus is the only hantavirus known to spread from person to person. However, this transmission is uncommon and usually requires close, prolonged contact or exposure to an infected person’s saliva, respiratory secretions, or other body fluids.
After returning home, passengers are expected to be assessed by health authorities and placed under quarantine, isolation, or active monitoring for up to 42 days, reflecting the long incubation period of Andes hantavirus. Measures vary by country: some passengers may stay in specialized quarantine facilities, while asymptomatic people may be allowed to isolate at home while keeping regular contact with public health officials.
Keep yourself safe from hantavirus by avoiding contact with wild rodents and their urine, droppings, saliva, or nesting materials, especially in cabins, sheds, barns, and poorly ventilated spaces. When cleaning possible rodent contamination, ventilate the area, wear gloves and a mask if needed, wet the area with disinfectant first, and never sweep or vacuum dry droppings because that can aerosolize the virus.
Share LinkedIn