A suspected outbreak of the rare rodent-borne hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has killed three people and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and South Africa’s Department of Health said Sunday.
WHO said an investigation was underway and that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One patient was in intensive care in a South African hospital, and the agency said it was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, was now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation off Africa’s west coast. Local authorities had visited the vessel but had not yet decided whether to allow the two ill crew members to disembark for medical treatment, the company said. “Local health authorities have visited the vessel to assess the condition of the two symptomatic individuals. They are yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement.
The ship had left Argentina about three weeks earlier for a cruise that included visits to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other stops, according to South Africa’s Department of Health. It was ultimately headed to Spain’s Canary Islands. Around 150 tourists were on board at the time of the outbreak, along with about 70 crew members, the department said.
The first victim was a 70-year-old man who died on the ship. His body was removed in the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, the health department said. The man’s wife collapsed at an airport in South Africa while trying to take a flight to her home country of the Netherlands; she died at a nearby hospital. The department identified the patient in intensive care in Johannesburg as a British national who had fallen ill near Ascension Island and was transferred from there to South Africa. A third victim’s body remained on the ship off Cape Verde.
Hantaviruses are found throughout the world and are spread mainly by contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents, such as rats and mice, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The viruses cause two serious syndromes: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which affects the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which affects the kidneys. While rare, hantavirus infections can be spread between people, WHO said, and there is no specific treatment or cure, though early medical care can increase the chance of survival.
The disease gained broader attention last year after Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, died from hantavirus infection in New Mexico. Hackman died about a week later at their home from heart disease.
“WHO is aware of and supporting a public health event involving a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean,” the U.N. health agency said in a statement. “Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”
The agency said it was working with national authorities and the ship’s operators to conduct a “full public health risk assessment” and provide support for those still on board. South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, meanwhile, was conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg region to identify whether other people were exposed to the infected passengers in South Africa.