Health authorities spanning three continents are conducting contact tracing and a source investigation after laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the Andes virus on the MV Hondius, an expedition cruise ship that has been sailing the South Atlantic for more than a month. Three passengers have died, one is in intensive care, and more than 140 others are undergoing cabin isolation as the vessel heads to Spain’s Canary Islands, the World Health Organization announced.
The timeline documented by ship tracking data and the World Health Organization shows the first known victim, a 70-year-old Dutch man, fell ill with fever, headache, and diarrhea on April 6. He died of respiratory distress on April 11 in the middle of the South Atlantic, between the British territories of South Georgia and St. Helena.
Ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions could not determine the cause of death at the time, and the vessel continued sailing for nearly two weeks. It stopped near Tristan da Cunha before arriving at St. Helena on April 24, where the man’s body was removed and his 69-year-old wife disembarked.
The wife, who had already shown symptoms, collapsed at a South African airport after her flight and died in a hospital on April 26, the World Health Organization said. A British man onboard developed high fever, shortness of breath, and signs of pneumonia after the ship left St. Helena. He was evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa on April 27 and remains in intensive care.
On Saturday, a German woman died on the ship with signs of pneumonia en route to Cape Verde, bringing the passenger death toll to three. Her body remains onboard. A man who had disembarked earlier in the voyage has also tested positive in Switzerland.
South African health officials identified the outbreak after testing the British man in intensive care and ruling out other ailments. The positive hantavirus result returned on Saturday, 21 days after the first passenger’s death. The World Health Organization announced an investigation on Sunday.
Subsequent tests on the Dutch woman’s body and the patient in Switzerland also confirmed Andes virus infections. Health authorities are actively tracing dozens of contacts who may have interacted with passengers who disembarked earlier in the voyage.
The MV Hondius waited off the coast of Cape Verde for three days before departing for the Canary Islands, where Spanish authorities agreed to accept the vessel. Spain announced it would accommodate the ship as health agencies coordinate the passenger repatriation.
Onboard, more than 140 passengers and crew from over a dozen countries have been placed under a cabin lockdown with physical distancing. The World Health Organization compared the precautionary measure to pandemic-era containment protocols. Three additional passengers were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday.
Hantaviruses are typically spread to humans through contact with contaminated rodent droppings. Person-to-person transmission is rare, and the World Health Organization’s top epidemic official said the broader public risk remains low.
Argentine investigators, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, hypothesize that the first Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing in the city of Ushuaia before embarking. The World Health Organization has not yet confirmed the source of the infections.