Hantavirus cruise ship hope for trapped Britons after three die | UK | News
Seven people have been infected with a deadly virus and three have died following an outbreak on a luxury cruise ship full of British holidaymakers in West African waters.
The World Health Organization confirmed on Monday that two cases were laboratory confirmed and five cases were suspected following the outbreak aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, currently held off the coast of West Africa.
One passenger is in critical condition, while the other three have only mild symptoms so far. A British man who fell ill on April 27 left the ship and is currently receiving treatment at a private clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa.
About 150 passengers were stranded after Cape Verde authorities banned the ship from docking due to safety concerns.
Oceanwide Expeditions said it was investigating whether passengers could be screened and disembarked on the islands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.
Who died in the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak?
Two of the three people who died were a Dutch couple and one was a German citizen. The Dutch victims included a 70-year-old man who died in St Helena on April 11 and his 69-year-old wife, who collapsed at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and died weeks later in South Africa. A German passenger on board died on 2 May.
The operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said it has not yet been confirmed whether the Dutch couple died from hantavirus. The cause of death of the German passenger was not determined.
The ship is trying to arrange the repatriation of two crew members with symptoms – a Briton and a Dutchman – along with the German citizen’s body, and the return of a surviving travel companion without symptoms, Canadian news outlet CBC reported.
What is hantavirus and how does it spread?
Hantavirus is a potentially fatal disease that affects the respiratory system. It is usually transmitted by inhalation of airborne particles from infected rodent waste and is rarely transmitted from person to person. No antiviral treatment is available; Doctors focus on keeping patients stable, using ventilators in the most serious cases.
The disease can take one to eight weeks to develop and initially presents with flu-like symptoms such as fatigue and high fever.
A spokesman for the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, which is assisting with the outbreak, said the source remained unclear.
“For example, you could imagine the rats on the ship transmitting the virus,” he said. “But another possibility is that during a stopover somewhere in South America, people were infected, for example, by rats, and that’s how they got sick.”
What happens next for passengers on the MV Hondius?
WHO has downplayed fears of a wider outbreak, saying the public health risk is minimal and there is no need for panic or travel restrictions.
Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March for a trip marketed as an Antarctic nature cruise. Mooring prices ranged from 14,000 to 22,000 euros (about £12,000 to £19,000) for a route passing the Antarctic mainland, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St Helena and Ascension before reaching Cape Verdean waters on 3 May.
American travel blogger Jake Rosmarin said in the emotional video he shared from the ship: “We are not just headlines. We are people with families, with lives, waiting for us at home.”
