Megyn Kelly Reacts to News of Spreading Hantavirus Following Cruise Ship Outbreak: ‘Oh No’

Megyn Kelly raised alarm bells with an X post about the potential spread of a hantavirus outbreak on Thursday, May 7.

“Oh no,” the podcaster, 55, wrote in her post featuring a link to a news story about a flight attendant who has been hospitalized in the Netherlands with mild symptoms of the hantavirus.

According to the report, which was originally published by Dutch news outlet RTL, the KLM employee fell ill after coming into contact with a passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship who later died in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Three passengers from the journey — which began in Ushuaia, Argentina, in March — have died, including the Dutch woman and her husband, who are believed to have first contracted the virus while birdwatching at a landfill in Argentina, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the virus, per The Independent.

While the hantavirus is generally spread by inhaling rodent urine, droppings or saliva, per the Mayo Clinic, the passengers were infected with the Andes strain, which can spread when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or through bodily fluids.

“In previous outbreaks, there have been instances of human-to-human transmission, mainly among close contacts either providing clinical care or people who have had close physical contact,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the World Health Organization, explained on May 6, via NBC News.

There are still 146 passengers aboard the ship, which is expected to dock in the Canary Islands on Sunday, May 10, per NBC, which noted that the incubation period can last eight weeks.

However, about 30 people disembarked in the southern Atlantic island of Saint Helena in late April, per CNN.

Now, government officials in at least seven countries where the passengers either traveled through or returned to — including the U.S. and Canada — are carefully monitoring for symptoms and contact tracing.

Passengers aboard the KLM flight that the flight attendant was on are also being tracked, according to South African newspaper, the Cape Argus.

The virus first presents with flu-like symptoms, which can progress to lung and heart problems, per the Mayo Clinic. The fatality rate can be as high as 50 percent, NBC reported.

While some of Kelly’s followers expressed concern about another pandemic, others scolded her for spreading fear. “Are you going to push this nonsense again?” commented one.

Still others expressed skepticism. “I hope it’s not the election year variant. Those are wild ones,” quipped another.

But Dr. Van Kerkhove tried to assuage fears, per NBC. “This is not Covid. This is not influenza,” she said. “This spreads very, very differently.”