Two hantavirus cases have been confirmed after three deaths on the MV Hondius, with health officials still investigating how the rare virus spread.
Two hantavirus infections have been confirmed after three passengers died during a suspected outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, a polar cruise ship now under precautionary measures near Cape Verde while health authorities investigate the source and scope of the illness.
The deaths have raised urgent questions because hantavirus is rare, can cause severe respiratory disease and is most often linked to exposure to infected rodents. Officials have stressed, however, that the wider public risk remains low and that not every death on the ship has been confirmed as caused by the virus.
The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said a Dutch husband and wife and a German passenger died. The Dutch woman tested positive for hantavirus, and a 69-year-old British passenger who was medically evacuated to South Africa was also confirmed to have the virus and remained in critical but stable condition in Johannesburg, according to accounts from the operator and health authorities.
The cause of death for the Dutch man and the German passenger has not been established. Earlier information from the World Health Organization described one laboratory-confirmed case and five additional suspected cases, with further testing, epidemiological work and virus sequencing under way.
Two crew members — one British and one Dutch — with unconfirmed respiratory symptoms, along with a close contact of the German passenger who died, were expected to be evacuated from the vessel. Oceanwide Expeditions said no one else on board had shown symptoms.
About 149 people from 23 countries remained on the MV Hondius under what the operator described as strict precautions, including isolation and hygiene protocols. The vessel had sailed more than 6,000 miles after departing from Ushuaia, Argentina, about a month earlier, with stops that included remote Atlantic islands.
Local authorities in Cape Verde barred passengers from disembarking on safety grounds. The WHO has been in talks with Spanish authorities about the ship potentially continuing to the Canary Islands, where a risk assessment and further medical screening could take place while passengers remained on board. Oceanwide said Las Palmas or Tenerife were being considered as possible disembarkation points.
Hantavirus is generally spread through contact with infected rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings, especially when contaminated material dries and becomes airborne. Human-to-human transmission is considered rare, though WHO officials have said close contact in shared cabins could be one possible route being examined.
WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, said hantavirus infections are uncommon and that “the risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”
There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus infection, so care focuses on supporting patients through symptoms, including breathing support in severe respiratory cases. South African health officials have said they are tracing and testing people who may have had contact with the British patient being treated in Johannesburg.
The key unanswered questions are whether the other deaths and illnesses are all linked to hantavirus, where exposure occurred and whether any person-to-person spread took place aboard the ship. Further laboratory testing and the planned medical evacuations are expected to shape the next public health decisions.
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