State health officials announced the first potential case of hantavirus of the year in a resident who is living in northern Illinois but say it is separate from the recent outbreak on the cruise ship.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a statement on Tuesday that it is investigating the first potential hantavirus case in an Illinois resident.
The case is not believed to be connected to the recent outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The resident lives in Winnebago County, has not travelled internationally and has not come in contact with individuals associated with the MV Hondius outbreak, according to the IDPH.
They are suspected to have acquired a North American strain of the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present.
The North American strains of hantavirus are not known to spread from person to person, unlike the Andes strain of hantavirus responsible for the cruise outbreak.
The risk of contracting Hantavirus of any kind remains very low for Illinois residents, IDPH said.
The Illinois resident is not seriously ill and is recovering after experiencing mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
The IDPH is working with the CDC on additional testing to confirm the resident is positive for hantavirus.
That process can take up to 10 days, according to the CDC. Commercial lab serology or antibody tests, which the individual received, are not considered definitive and require confirmation by a more sensitive test at the CDC.
IDPH said they are coordinating closely with the local health departments, including the Winnebago County Health Department (WCHD), and the CDC.
Illinois has had seven positive cases of Hantavirus since 1993, most recently in March 2025, prior to the most recent case.
The U.S. has recorded 890 cases of hantavirus over 30 years since surveillance began in 1993.
The hantavirus strain most commonly seen in the U.S. is caused by exposure to rodent droppings and is not contagious from person to person, the IDPH said.
The rodent species — long-tailed pygmy rice rat — known to carry the Andes strain of the virus in South America does not live in the U.S.
The CDC contacted states that had residents aboard the cruise ship connected to the hantavirus outbreak but Illinois has not received communication from the CDC.