The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is monitoring reports of additional individuals showing symptoms after possible contact with passengers linked to a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said this on Friday during an online media briefing on the hantavirus cluster linked to travel aboard the Dutch-flagged cruise ship, MV Hondius.
Ghebreyesus said the United Kingdom notified WHO under the International Health Regulations about a cluster of severe respiratory illness among passengers travelling from Argentina to Cabo Verde aboard the vessel.
According to him, eight cases have been reported so far, including three deaths, while five cases have been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infection and three others remain suspected.
He explained that hantaviruses were carried by rodents and transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents, their urine, droppings or saliva, causing severe illness in some cases.
Ghebreyesus said the virus identified in the outbreak was the Andes virus, the only hantavirus species known to spread between humans through close and prolonged contact.
“The current cases appear consistent with this pattern,” he said, noting that human-to-human transmission had previously occurred mainly among household members, intimate partners and healthcare workers.
He said the index case involved a man who developed symptoms on April 6 and died aboard the ship on April 11, before hantavirus was initially suspected.
According to him, the man’s wife later disembarked in Saint Helena while symptomatic, deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg and died the following day after post-mortem confirmation of hantavirus infection.
Ghebreyesus said another passenger died on May 2, while additional infected passengers received treatment in South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland following coordinated international medical evacuations.
“As of the briefing, none of the remaining passengers or crew aboard the ship were symptomatic,” he said, adding that WHO still considered the overall public health risk to be low.
He explained that WHO was working with several governments under the International Health Regulations framework to ensure treatment for affected individuals and prevent further spread of the virus.
Ghebreyesus said Spain had agreed to receive the vessel, which was now heading toward the Canary Islands under strict health monitoring and containment measures.
According to him, WHO issued guidance on onboard health management, including cabin confinement, disinfection procedures and immediate isolation of symptomatic passengers to minimise transmission risks.
He added that WHO had arranged the shipment of 2,500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to five countries and would continue supporting efforts to contain the outbreak and prevent additional infections.
