The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that two confirmed cases of hantavirus and five suspected cases have been recorded on a luxury, Dutch cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Verde.
A total of about 150 passengers are aboard the Hondius-mainly British, Americans and Spaniards–which began its voyage from Argentina in March and is now off the coast of West Africa.
Among the seven cases — suspected and confirmed — are three people who have died, one who is hospitalized in serious condition and three who are showing mild symptoms, the WHO explained.
The three dead are a Dutch couple and a German citizen, while a British man has been removed from the ship and is receiving treatment in South Africa, officials noted.
Low risk to the general public
“The atmosphere on board m/v Hondius remains calm, with passengers generally remaining calm,” the ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a statement late yesterday, Monday. The company added that it was working to check and disembark passengers and was considering sailing to Las Palmas or Tenerife, Spain.
In addition, the WHO reiterated that the risk to the general public is low from the disease, which is usually transmitted by infected rodents and rarely between humans.
Cape Verde – an island nation off the coast of West Africa – has asked the ship to stay afloat as a precautionary measure.
The first passenger to fall ill, a 70-year-old Dutchman, died on April 11, with his body remaining on board until April 24, when he “disembarked in St Helena, with his wife accompanying (the body) on its repatriation,” Oceanwide Expeditions noted.
Three days later his 69-year-old wife also fell ill and subsequently died, while a British man “became seriously ill and was taken to a hospital in South Africa”, the company added.
Meanwhile, the WHO is searching for the passengers on the flight the 69-year-old Dutch woman was on when she travelled from St Helena to Johannesburg, South Africa, where she died in hospital.
Hantavirus infection was confirmed yesterday. In addition, South African authorities have confirmed that the 69-year-old British man hospitalised in Johannesburg has also tested positive for a strain of the hantavirus.
