Three passengers dead after suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship | Cape Verde

Three people have died following a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic.

One case of hantavirus infection was confirmed and there were five more suspected cases, the World Health Organization told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

Three of the six affected people have died and one is in intensive care in South Africa, the WHO added. Two of the dead were husband and wife, aged 70 and 69.

According to the BBC, the person in intensive care is a 69-year-old British citizen.

The outbreak was reported on the MV Hondius traveling between Argentina and Cape Verde.

The ship is operated by Dutch tour company Oceanwide Expeditions. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier on Sunday, South Africa’s health ministry told AFP there was an outbreak of “serious acute respiratory disease” in Johannesburg that had killed at least two people, a third of whom were in intensive care.

South African spokesman Foster Mohale said the patient being treated in Johannesburg tested positive for hantavirus, a family of viruses that can cause hemorrhagic fever.

Hantavirus is usually transmitted through contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents, but in rare cases it can spread between humans. It can cause serious respiratory diseases.

The first person to develop symptoms was a 70-year-old passenger. Mohale said he died on the ship and his body is now on the island of Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.

The man’s 69-year-old wife also fell ill on the ship and was evacuated to South Africa, where she died in a hospital in Johannesburg.

The nationalities of these people have not yet been determined, but a source close to the case said that a Dutch couple was among the dead, on condition of anonymity.

The third death was still on the ship Sunday evening.

Another passenger, a 69-year-old British man, was evacuated to Johannesburg where he was treated in intensive care.

An unnamed source said talks were ongoing to decide whether two other sick passengers would be isolated in hospital in Cape Verde, an archipelago off the west coast of Africa, after which the ship would head for Spain’s Canary Islands.

WHO said it was “facilitating coordination” between national authorities and ship operators to organize the medical evacuation of two passengers with symptoms.

MV Hondius is listed as a polar cruise ship on various travel agencies’ websites. One of the cruises offers an itinerary departing from Ushuaia in Argentina and heading towards the Cape Verde Islands, with stops on the islands of South Georgia and Saint Helena.

The ship has a capacity of approximately 170 passengers and a crew of 70. The MV Hondius was just off the coast of the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on Sunday, according to various online ship tracking sites.

The UK Foreign Office said: “We are closely monitoring reports of a possible hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship Hondius and stand ready to support British nationals should the need arise. We are in contact with the cruise line and local authorities.”