The World Health Organization announced on Thursday that five cases of the virus have been confirmed among people aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, as health authorities around the world scramble to track and contain the spread.
Three people, a Dutch couple and a German, have died since the ship left Argentina last month. The first suspected case was a 70-year-old Dutch national who suddenly became ill on board the ship with a fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea, South Africa’s Department of Health told CNN. He died on board the ship on April 11th.
Meanwhile, operator Oceanwide Expeditions said on Thursday that a total of 146 people from 23 countries were still on board the ship under “strict precautionary measures”.
At least 30 passengers disembarked on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena in late April, and while some seriously ill were evacuated to Europe by air this week, the remaining passengers are expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands this weekend and fly back to their home countries.
Here’s what we know about some countries where cruise ship passengers are being treated for hantavirus or being monitored for possible infection.
Netherlands: The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, announced on Thursday that three passengers had arrived in the Netherlands for treatment. They are a British national, a 65-year-old German and a 41-year-old Dutch crew member. Two of the passengers are in serious condition, but the company said a third evacuee, who is currently asymptomatic, is also being treated. Separately, a Dutch government spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that a woman went to a hospital in Amsterdam for tests following a possible exposure related to the ship. According to Dutch media, she was a flight attendant for KLM Airlines and had contact with a 69-year-old Dutch woman who died in South Africa last month.
South Africa: A British national fell ill on board the ship on April 27 and was taken to a private medical facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he remains in intensive care. He is the second confirmed case of hantavirus. WHO announced that his condition is improving.
Switzerland: On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a passenger who returned to Switzerland after disembarking had tested positive and was being treated in Zurich.
UK: Britain’s Health and Safety Executive has announced that two British nationals who disembarked from the ship in St Helena on April 24 are isolating at home as a precaution after potentially being infected. The agency said it was aware of five British nationals who disembarked from the ship on the same day, four of whom remain on board. It has been announced that contact tracing efforts are continuing for a seventh infected person, who has not yet returned to the UK.
US: US health officials said they were monitoring three people who had previously disembarked and returned home. Georgia state officials said two residents are under observation and are not showing symptoms, while Arizona health officials said none of them are asymptomatic. Medpage Today reported that other American passengers returned to Texas and Virginia.
SINGAPORE: Two Singapore residents, both men in their 60s, are self-isolating and being tested for hantavirus, the country’s infectious diseases agency said on Thursday. One of the men has a runny nose, but is otherwise healthy, while the other is asymptomatic.
The situation has attracted international attention, with some comparing it to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as passengers disembarked and dispersed across multiple countries before the outbreak was fully understood.
Oceanwide announced Thursday that it is working to “obtain details of all passengers and crew who boarded and deboarded M/V Hondius at various stops since March 20” amid concerns about the global spread of the virus.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that while it expects more cases to emerge, a large-scale outbreak similar to the new coronavirus is not expected, stressing there is no evidence of a widespread risk of infection.
The outbreak is believed to be related to the Andean strain of hantavirus, a rare but potentially serious virus that can be transmitted between humans through close contact in some cases.
It is not yet clear how the outbreak occurred. But the WHO is working on the assumption that the Dutch couple who died were probably infected off-board while touring Argentina before joining the cruise.
The first two cases “travelled to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on bird-watching trips, which included visits to areas where rat species known to carry the virus are present,” Ghebreyesus told reporters Thursday.
Health officials said the hantavirus typically incubates for one to six weeks before patients start showing symptoms, so it’s likely that the person became ill some time after being infected.
“We are working with relevant countries to support international contact tracing to ensure potentially infected people are monitored and to limit further spread of the disease,” the WHO said in a social media post.
Canary Islands authorities said the ship was scheduled to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Pau Mosquera, Brenda Goodman and Vasco Cotobio contributed reporting.
