3 Cruise Ship Passengers Die From Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak

Three people have died after a suspected outbreak of the hantavirus aboard the British cruise vessel MV Hondius sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.

In a public statement on X, the organization confirmed that a laboratory verified case was traced from a passenger aboard the ship, and that there are five other suspected cases awaiting confirmation.

Out of the six individuals that are suspected to be affected, three have died and one was in intensive care in Africa, it said, as of Sunday afternoon.

“Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations,” said the statement on X.

The World Health Organization also informed the BBC that the ship was traveling from Argentina to Cape Verde.

The MV Hondius is listed as a polar cruise ship by several travel agencies, and it is operated by a Dutch-based tour company, Oceanwide Expeditions.

The passenger whose case is confirmed is a 69-year-old British national, and his laboratory test results came back positive for hantavirus, a spokesperson from the South African Department of Health told BBC.

According to the South African National Department of Health, one of the individuals who died was a 70-year-old male passenger who died on arrival to St. Helena.

He was the first passenger to exhibit virus symptoms, and he became ill quickly after the cruise ship sailed from the city of Ushuaia in Argentina.

Spokesman Foster Mohale told BBC that the man presented symptoms of having a fever, headaches, abdominal pain and diarrhea before dying upon reaching St. Helena.

His 69-year-old wife also became ill while aboard the vessel, and she was evacuated to a Johannesburg hospital in South Africa, where she died.

Mohale says that the man’s wife collapsed while trying to schedule a flight back home to her home country of the Netherlands.

The husband and wife were a Dutch couple, and the man’s remains are pending repatriation to the Netherlands, as Dutch officials are leading efforts to return symptomatic individual’s back to their home country.

What is hantavirus and how is it transmitted?

Hantavirus refers to a family of viruses that is carried and transmitted by rodents. According to Sabra L. Klein, a professor at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in North America, the Sin Nombre virus is the most common form.

Any of the viruses within the family is most often transmitted to humans through the inhaling of particles from dried mouse droppings.

An exemplary human case of hantavirus is when it is contracted by someone who has visited a cabin that has a rodent infestation, said Emily Abdoler, a doctor and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, to the New York Times.

Flulike symptoms appear one to eight weeks after exposure to droppings from an infected rodent.

Dr. Abdoler told the New York Times that hantavirus is most commonly found in the Four Corners region, which includes Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

New Mexico sees the most hantavirus infections. According to Dr. Erin Phipps, a veterinarian at the New Mexico Department of Health, the state records one to seven hantavirus infections each year.

There are no cures for hantavirus, and no specific treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a system of supportive care, that involves oxygen therapy, dialysis and antiviral medications.

As symptoms appear anywhere from one to eight weeks after exposure, more passengers may report indicators in the coming weeks. A microbiologist talks with the BBC and speculates, “are we going to see more people coming down the disease in the next days and weeks?”