What we know about hantavirus cases tied to deadly cruise ship outbreak
Health officials around the world monitor deadly situation hantavirus outbreak linked to a Dutch-flagged vessel cruise ship. So far, there are nine confirmed or suspected cases linked to the ship, including three deaths.
Hantaviruses are a family of rare viruses typically transmitted to humans through contact with contaminated waste or rodent saliva. They often experience symptoms of lung and respiratory distress that can be serious, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The strain identified in the outbreak on the M/V Hondius cruise ship is called the Andes virus, which is the only known strain of hantavirus to spread from person to person. Transmission occurs through close, prolonged contact, health officials say.
Investigations, contact tracing efforts and isolation protocols were underway in a number of countries to which citizens returned. after leaving the cruise on a layover in late April, as well as for people on board a flight with one of the confirmed cases, the World Health Organization said. No one currently on the ship is showing symptoms of the virus, ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Thursday.
Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the agency, told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the ongoing nature of these public health measures — and the potentially long incubation period of hantavirus — meant more cases could still emerge.
Here’s what you need to know about those confirmed or suspected so far.
A Dutch couple would be the first case
Oceanwide Expeditions said a 70-year-old Dutch man died on board the ship on April 11. He had developed symptoms less than a week earlier, on April 6, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.
Because his symptoms were similar to other respiratory illnesses, hantavirus was not suspected at the time of his death and no samples were taken, Tedros said. However, this is now believed to be the first case of hantavirus on board the ship.
The man’s 69-year-old wife left the cruise ship on April 24 as it docked at St Helena, a remote British island in the Atlantic Ocean where a number of other passengers also disembarked. She died two days later in South Africa, after her condition “deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg”, the WHO said. His blood later tested positive for the Andean strain of hantavirus.
Before boarding the cruise ship on April 1, the Dutch couple had taken a birding trip through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, visiting sites where the rat species known to carry the Andean virus was present, according to the WHO.
Contact tracing procedures were in place for other people who were on the wife’s flight from St Helena to Johannesburg, Tedros said on Thursday. He also told reporters that the WHO was working with countries of which the others landed on St. Helena are citizens.
British passenger hospitalized in South Africa
On April 24, an adult man from the United Kingdom presented to the cruise ship’s doctor with respiratory symptoms and other signs of pneumonia, according to the WHO.
As his symptoms worsened on April 26, the passenger was medically evacuated a day later from Ascension Island to South Africa, where he remained hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Tests confirmed the man had contracted the Andes virus, South African health authorities and the WHO said.
Van Kerkhove said Thursday the man’s health was improving after authorities described him as seriously ill.
A German woman died on board the ship
Another passenger, from Germany, died aboard the Hondius on May 2, officials said. According to the WHO, the woman initially developed a fever on April 28 and eventually showed symptoms of pneumonia. His body was still on the ship, the cruise line said.
3 evacuated to the Netherlands
Officials said three people were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive medical treatment.
Two of them, a Dutch passenger and a British cruise crew member, had shown symptoms of the virus, and Oceanwide Expeditions described their conditions as serious. Van Kerkhove said Thursday that the WHO had learned that both were in stable condition.
The third evacuee, a German passenger, did not have symptoms of hantavirus on Wednesday but was closely associated with the German woman who died on May 2, the cruise line said. This person has since returned to Germany, the WHO said.
A Swiss person tested positive
A Swiss man who disembarked from the cruise ship in St. Helena tested positive for the Andean strain of hantavirus, according to Swiss health authorities and the WHO. The man developed symptoms and underwent tests in Zurich, where he is being treated, authorities said Wednesday.
The man’s wife, who accompanied him on the cruise, showed no symptoms but was self-isolating as a precaution, the Swiss public health agency said.
Suspected affair on Tristan da Cunha
A British national on Tristan da Cunha, a remote island group part of the British Overseas Territory that includes St. Helena, is another suspected case, British health authorities said Friday. No further details about the case were immediately available.
The ship stopped at Tristan da Cunha on April 15, when six passengers joined the cruise, Oceanwide Expeditions said, but did not report any passengers disembarking at that time.
International surveillance efforts
The WHO is in contact with officials from at least 12 countries who are monitoring citizens returning home after disembarking the ship in St. Helena, Tedros said. These countries include Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.
In the United States, health agencies in five states said they were monitoring people on the ship: two each in Georgia and Texas, one each in Arizona and Virginia, and an unspecified number in California. None of the people had symptoms, the health service said.
On Friday morning, a WHO official confirmed to CBS News that a KLM flight attendant, who had contact with cruise passengers and was hospitalized in the Netherlands for monitoring, had tested negative for hantavirus.
The French Health Ministry said it had identified eight French nationals who were in contact with a confirmed case on a St Helena-Johannesburg flight. One of those people had mild symptoms and diagnostic testing was underway, the agency said Thursday. The others were offered isolation measures and access to testing, according to the agency.
