Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Raises Concerns

MADRID — Over two dozen individuals from at least twelve countries have disembarked from a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak, which has already claimed the life of one passenger nearly two weeks ago. This information was confirmed by the ship’s operators and officials from the Netherlands.

Health authorities across four continents are now in the process of reaching out to cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, as well as tracking others who might have had contact with them since then.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that the general public’s risk remains low, as hantavirus is typically spread through contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily passed between people. “We think this outbreak can be contained if public health measures are effectively applied and nations work together,” stated Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO’s director of alert and response.

On a related note, a flight attendant in South Africa, who had a brief interaction with an infected cruise passenger, is now exhibiting symptoms of the virus. She is undergoing tests in an isolation unit in Amsterdam. The Dutch woman who was the infected passenger was too unwell to board her flight and was removed in Johannesburg, where she later died.

If her test returns positive, she would be the first recorded case outside the MV Hondius vessel linked to this outbreak.

So far, three passengers from the cruise have died, with several others reporting illness. Symptoms typically appear within one to eight weeks after exposure. Fortunately, the remaining passengers and crew aboard the ship currently show no symptoms, according to the ship’s operators.

Confirmation of Hantavirus Case

The first confirmed hantavirus case from on board the cruise ship emerged on May 2. Three individuals, including the ship’s doctor, were evacuated Wednesday while near Cape Verde and transported to specialized hospitals in Europe for medical attention.

The body of the first passenger who died on April 11 was retrieved from the ship on April 24 at the remote island of St. Helena, where his wife also disembarked. She later flew to South Africa and died the following day.

Oceanwide Expeditions, the cruise line based in the Netherlands, reported that approximately thirty passengers left the ship in St. Helena, while the Dutch Foreign Ministry estimated around forty individuals departed. It was disclosed for the first time that many more had left the ship on April 24.

Health authorities only confirmed the presence of hantavirus in a passenger on May 2. This involved a British man who was evacuated to South Africa three days after the stop at St. Helena, and he remains in intensive care.

Monitoring Disembarked Passengers

On Wednesday, it was revealed that a man who disembarked at St. Helena tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland, though details of his travel remain unclear.

Thursday saw Singapore health authorities announcing they are monitoring two individuals who left the ship and traveled to South Africa before returning home. These men, who arrived in Singapore separately, are being isolated for testing. One had mild symptoms, while the other showed none.

Officials in the UK are aware of two passengers who returned home during the voyage; they are self-isolating but remain asymptomatic. The Health Security Agency in the UK mentioned that a few contacts of these individuals are also self-isolating without any symptoms, and further contacts are being investigated.

Authorities in St. Helena, the isolated British territory where passengers disembarked, are keeping an eye on certain individuals deemed “higher risk contacts,” advising them to isolate for a period of 45 days.

Tracing Contacts in South Africa

The cruise ship is currently en route to the Canary Islands, a journey anticipated to last three to four days, with over 140 passengers and crew still aboard. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned on Thursday that he has maintained regular communication with the ship’s captain, noting an improvement in morale since the ship resumed its journey.

South Africa is also working to trace any contacts from passengers who previously left the ship, focusing primarily on a flight that departed St. Helena for Johannesburg the day after the disembarkation.

The Dutch woman who later died had briefly boarded this flight, although it remains unclear how many cruise passengers were on it, as flights from St. Helena to South Africa are infrequent, typically happening once a week. The body of another fatality, a German woman, remains on board after her passing on May 2.

Understanding the Hantavirus

Tests have identified five passengers as infected with a specific hantavirus originating in South America, known as the Andes virus, which is the only strain believed to transmit between humans. It can lead to severe and potentially fatal lung conditions.

Argentina’s health ministry reported 28 hantavirus-related deaths last year, significantly more than the average of 15 deaths per year reported over the prior five years, indicating a concerning increase in severity.

The ship set sail from Argentina, and investigations are centering around the outbreak’s source, particularly concerning a Dutch couple who had recently traveled through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay for bird-watching before boarding the cruise. Tedros highlighted that the couple visited areas where rats known to carry the Andes virus are prevalent.

The WHO is collaborating with health authorities in Argentina to trace their movements and has arranged to send 2,500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to testing facilities in five different countries.