Hantavirus Outbreak on Atlantic Cruise Traced to Land Exposure

(MENAFN) The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Tuesday that a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship anchored off Cabo Verde almost certainly predates the voyage itself — with the initial patient likely infected on land before ever stepping aboard — as the agency assessed the wider public health risk as low.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency's director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, briefed journalists in Geneva, stating that both the index patient and his wife were in all probability exposed to the virus prior to embarkation.

"Our assumption is that they were infected off the ship," she said, citing the virus's incubation period as the foundation for that determination.

Van Kerkhove further disclosed that investigators are now examining whether limited human-to-human transmission occurred among close contacts — a chain of exposure that can unfold over a period spanning one to six weeks.

Of the 147 passengers and crew aboard, seven have fallen ill — two confirmed cases and five classified as suspected. "Sadly, three have died," she said.

One critically ill patient is currently receiving intensive care in South Africa and is showing improvement, while two others remain aboard and are being prepared for medical evacuation to the Netherlands. As a precautionary measure, all remaining passengers have been confined to their cabins while sweeping disinfection and public health protocols are carried out. No new symptomatic cases have been reported.

Van Kerkhove noted that hantaviruses are rodent-borne pathogens capable of triggering severe illness in humans, though person-to-person transmission remains rare. Genomic sequencing is currently underway to pinpoint the exact strain involved, with the Andes virus listed among the leading working hypotheses.

Authorities have detected no signs of rodents aboard the vessel. However, the ship's multiple port stops along the African coast may have brought passengers into contact with local wildlife — a factor under consideration as a potential source of further infections.

The WHO is actively coordinating with health officials in Cabo Verde, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the UK, alongside the ship's operators, as contact tracing and sequencing work presses forward.

Once infected patients are evacuated, the vessel is set to proceed to the Canary Islands, where Spanish authorities will oversee a full investigation and comprehensive disinfection of the ship.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius had been conducting a weeks-long polar expedition, originally departing Argentina bound for Antarctica.

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