Three Dead in Hantavirus Cluster on Cruise Ship; CDC Rates U.S. Risk Low

Three passengers have died and at least five more people are infected or suspected of infection in a hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, and officials are still deciding where the vessel can dock. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates the risk to the American public as “extremely low,” according to ABC News and NBC News.

The WHO’s latest count, as NBC News reported it, is eight cases: three confirmed by laboratory testing and five suspected. ABC News, using a slightly later tally, reported five confirmed cases, including two more crew members. Three people have died, a Dutch couple and a German national, NBC reported. A British man remains in intensive care in South Africa, and a man who traveled on the ship is being treated at a hospital in Zurich, where Swiss authorities said there is no threat to the wider population.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Geneva University Hospitals identified the strain as Andes hantavirus, ABC reported. Unlike most hantaviruses, which people usually contract through contact with the droppings, urine or saliva of infected rodents, the Andes strain has been shown to spread between people. WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said person-to-person spread requires close contact, “such as sharing a bed or food,” according to NBC. The disease can be fatal, and NBC reported there are no treatments. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the overall public health risk remains low.

The ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and stopped at mainland Antarctica and the islands of Tristan da Cunha and St. Helena before the outbreak, NBC reported. Authorities refused to let it dock in Cape Verde. Three people were medically evacuated Wednesday, two of them symptomatic and in serious condition, ABC reported; two had landed in the Netherlands when ABC wrote. The WHO’s Freddy Banza said no symptomatic passengers remain on board, and that crew and medical staff who cared for sick passengers are considered at highest risk. More than 100 people remain on board, ABC said, and NBC put the number at almost 150.

The ship is now heading for the Canary Islands, a three- to four-day trip. Spain’s health minister said passengers would be screened and repatriated after the ship reaches Granadilla de Abona, ABC reported, but the regional president, Fernando Clavijo, opposed docking, saying the decision was “not based on any technical criteria,” and asked to meet the Spanish prime minister. NBC noted that the national government can overrule regional authorities.

In the United States, the CDC urged American passengers to follow health officials’ guidance, ABC reported, and said the State Department is leading the response. The Arizona health department is monitoring one resident who was aboard, and Georgia’s is monitoring two who returned home after disembarking. None of the former passengers monitored in the United States has shown signs of illness, ABC reported. Neither outlet gave a count of Americans on the ship.

Passenger Kasem Hato described a calm atmosphere on board, NBC reported, while Jake Rosmarin said the ship has stricter precautions, including meals delivered to rooms and access to outdoor decks.