Cruise ship awaits help after outbreak of hantavirus, 3 dead

Cape Town: A Dutch cruise ship with around 150 passengers on board was waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus onboard killed three people and left at least three others seriously ill, the World Health Organization and the ship’s operator said.

The MV Hondius, which was on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and then several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, had requested help from local health authorities after making its way to the island of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa, but no one was allowed to disembark, the company operating the cruise said late Sunday.

A 70-year-old Dutch man who presented with fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea was the first victim and died onboard while the ship was near the British territory of Saint Helena, some 1,900 kilometres off the African coast, the South African health department said. His body was taken off the vessel there and was awaiting repatriation.

His 69-year-old wife was transferred to South Africa but collapsed at a Johannesburg airport and died at a nearby hospital, the department said.

The ship then sailed on to Ascension Island, another isolated Atlantic outpost about 1,300 kilometres) to the north, where a British man was taken off the ship. He later tested positive for hantavirus, a rare infection spread by rodents that can cause serious respiratory illness or hemorrhagic fever, the health department said.

He is in a critical condition and is now in intensive care in a South African hospital, where he is being kept isolated, authorities said.

The third fatality has not been publicly identified, but the body is still on the ship, the cruise operator said.

WHO said the other five cases were also suspected to be hantavirus but had not been confirmed through tests.

It was not clear when the victims died. A marine traffic website said the ship left Ascension Island on April 27 for Cape Verde, about 2,700 kilometres north.

Two crew members still onboard the Hondius needed urgent medical care, the Netherlands-based operating company, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a statement.

Oceanwide said it was managing a “serious medical situation” on the ship but gave no details, nor did it say whether passengers were being quarantined.

“Local health authorities have visited the vessel to assess the condition of the two symptomatic individuals,” the cruise company said late Sunday. “They are yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde.”

The World Health Organisation said it was working with local authorities and the ship’s operators to conduct a “full public health risk assessment” and trying to coordinate the evacuation of the two sick people from the ship.

“Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations,” WHO said. “Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”

The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed two of the victims were Dutch and said it was also exploring the possibilities of evacuating some people from the ship.

In rare cases, hantavirus infections can be spread between people, WHO said. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.