Gerald Imray
Updated ,first published
Cape Town, South Africa: A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organisation and South Africa’s Department of Health said.
In a statement, the WHO said an investigation was under way but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. Hantaviruses, found throughout the world, are a family of viruses spread mainly by contact with the urine or faeces of infected rodents such as rats and mice.
One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the UN’s health agency said, adding that it was working with authorities to evacuate two other passengers with symptoms from the ship.
“Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations,” WHO said. “Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”
The ship’s operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a news release it was “managing a serious medical situation” on a polar expedition ship, the MV Hondius, which was off Cape Verde, an island nation in the Atlantic west of Africa.
Local authorities were assisting but had not allowed anyone to disembark, it said, adding that the two sick people on board requiring urgent medical care were crew members.
A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed two Dutch passengers had died, but gave no further details, while London’s Telegraph reported that the person in intensive care was a 69-year-old British tourist.
Hantaviruses cause two serious syndromes, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe disease that affects the lungs, and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, a severe disease that affects the kidneys.
While rare, WHO said hantavirus infections could be spread between people. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.
The disease gained attention after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year. Hackman died around a week later at their home from heart disease.
South Africa’s Department of Health said the MV Hondius left Argentina around three weeks ago for a cruise that included visits to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other stops. It was due to ultimately head to Spain’s Canary Islands on the other side of the Atlantic.
The first victim was a 70-year-old man who died on the ship and whose body was removed in the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, the department said in a statement. The man’s wife collapsed at an airport in South Africa trying to take a flight home to the Netherlands and died at a nearby hospital, it said.
The department said the British national in intensive care fell ill near Ascension Island, another remote island in the Atlantic, after the ship left Saint Helena and was transferred from there to South Africa.
Oceanwide Expeditions said the third victim’s body was still onboard the ship in Cape Verde and its priority was to ensure the two crew members who were ill received medical care.
“Local health authorities have visited the vessel to assess the condition of the two symptomatic individuals,” the company said. “They are yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde.”
WHO said it was working with national authorities and the ship’s operators to conduct a “full public health risk assessment” and provide support for those still onboard.
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, meanwhile, was conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg region to determine whether other people had been exposed to the infected passengers.
Around 150 tourists were on board at the time of the outbreak, South Africa’s Health Department said. Several online tour operators said the Hondius, which is described as a specialist polar cruise ship, usually travels with around 70 crew members.
The cruise, which costs about $18,000 per person, is popular with bird watchers, the Telegraph said.
