A panoramic view of the cruise ship MV Hondius anchored off the coast of the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2026.
AFP | Getty Images
For now, prediction market traders aren’t too worried about hantavirus.
According to Kalsi data, there is only a 21% chance of a concern about a hantavirus outbreak this year. The prediction market platform opened a market on hantavirus on Wednesday night, noting that the problem would be resolved if the World Health Organization designates the virus as a “public health emergency of international concern” in 2026.
Compared to other markets that opened on the same day, this market has a high level of trading. On Friday, outbreak-related trading volume reached more than $174,000, the highest of any market open at the time.
The WHO declared the virus an outbreak on May 4, weeks after several passengers on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic became ill, according to the Associated Press. According to the WHO website, an outbreak is when more people become ill than expected in a particular community, geographic location, or season.
According to the WHO, this deadly viral respiratory disease is transmitted through the urine, feces and saliva of infected rodents and by touching contaminated surfaces.
Spanish health authorities said on Friday that a woman in the country’s southeast had symptoms consistent with hantavirus, Reuters reported. In the Netherlands, three people with symptoms of the virus have tested negative.
However, the WHO said the public health risk from the virus was low.
“While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low,” Tedros told the media. “More cases may be reported.”
According to a WHO report, there were 147 people on board the cruise ship, including passengers and crew. A former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official and another person familiar with the matter told CNBC this week that six states are monitoring passengers who took the cruise and then returned to the United States.
Those states are Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, and New Jersey. Health officials in Arizona, Georgia and Texas said the former passengers were not showing symptoms.
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalsi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and minority ownership.
