\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t A suspected outbreak of rodent-borne disease hantavirus in a cruise ship that parted from Argentina has the international health community on alert.<\/p>\n
So far, three passengers have died \u2014 a Dutch couple and a German national. Two crew members are symptomatic and awaiting medical evacuation.<\/p>\n
A British person is in intensive care in South Africa and is the only one to have laboratory confirmation that they have hantavirus, according to Oceanview Expeditions, the company which owns the cruise.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization (WHO), which is currently assessing the situation, said there are five suspected hantavirus cases and one confirmed amongst those who were or are on board the ship.<\/p>\n
WHO is aware of and supporting a public health event involving a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. To date, one case of hantavirus infection has been laboratory confirmed, and there are five additional suspected cases. Of the six affected individuals, three have died\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/SqMAAZzoID<\/p>\n
\u2014 World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 3, 2026 The Dutch ship, called the MV Hondius, was crossing the Atlantic Ocean en route to Cape Verde \u2014 where it is currently docked \u2014 when the disease broke out.\u00a0 It had sailed from Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego, on March 20.<\/p>\n
Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost province in Argentina, is located in the Patagonia, a region where hantavirus is prevalent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the local health ministry stated that there are no registered cases in the province and that the disease is mainly present in other Patagonian regions such as Neuqu\u00e9n, R\u00edo Negro and Chubut.<\/p>\n
Hantavirus Hantavirus infections typically happen due to exposure to infected rodents\u2019 urine or faeces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response,\u201d said the WHO in a statement.<\/p>\n
Hans Kluge, Regional Director of WHO Europe, said that the virus is not easily transmitted between people. \u201cThe risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The international organization is also coordinating, along with the countries involved, a medical evacuation operation of the two symptomatic passengers who remain on the cruise, as well as a \u201cfull public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who are the people affected Oceanwide Expeditions issued several statements lamenting a \u201cserious medical situation\u201d on board the MV Hondius cruise ship, and published a timeline of the events, including information on the patients and the deceased.<\/p>\n
The first death happened on board on April 11 \u2014 it was a Dutch man, who was on vacation along with his wife. The passenger suddenly became ill, developing fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, Foster Mohale, a spokesperson for South Africa\u2019s health ministry, told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Oceanwide Expeditions said \u201cthe cause of death could not be determined on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
On April 24, the man\u2019s body was disembarked on St Helena, a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n
Three days later, the company learned that the man\u2019s wife, who had disembarked along with this body,\u00a0 \u201chad become unwell during the return journey and had later died,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Dutch media reported that the woman died in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.<\/p>\n
However, the firm clarified it remained unclear whether the Dutch couple\u2019s death was connected to \u201cthe current medical situation on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same day \u2014 April 27 \u2014 a British passenger became \u201cseriously ill\u201d and was medically evacuated to Johannesburg, where the person was hospitalized and remains \u201cin a critical but stable condition\u201d in intensive care.<\/p>\n
On 2 May, another passenger, a German national, died on board. \u201cThe cause has not yet been established,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
Repatriation Two crew members on board currently have \u201cacute respiratory symptoms, one mild and one severe,\u201d and require \u201curgent medical care,\u201d the company stated, They are of British and Dutch nationality and hantavirus has not been confirmed at time of writing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time, no other persons with symptoms have been identified,\u201d the cruise firm added.<\/p>\n
There are 149 people on board from 23 different nationalities. Oceanview Expeditions is working on potential medical repatriation of those affected and is considering sailing to Las Palmas or Tenerife for disembarkation, \u201cwhere further medical screening and handling could take place.\u201d<\/p>\n
A repatriation of the two crew members, as well as of the German deceased passenger and of the person who was travelling with them, is also being organized by Dutch authorities and the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A suspected outbreak of rodent-borne disease hantavirus in a cruise ship that parted from Argentina has the international health community on alert. So far, three passengers have died \u2014 a Dutch couple and a German national. Two crew members are symptomatic and awaiting medical evacuation. A British person is in intensive care in South Africa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":59029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15318,15280,53,151,1208],"tags":[15350,15351,182,135,13091],"class_list":["post-59028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-verde","category-hantavirus","category-health","category-society","category-tierra-del-fuego","tag-cape-verde","tag-hantavirus","tag-health","tag-society","tag-tierra-del-fuego"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}