Three people are dead and at least three others are fighting for their lives after a suspected hantavirus outbreak tore through a Dutch cruise ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The ship, the MV Hondius, is now anchored off the island of Cape Verde with roughly 150 people still on board, including 17 Americans, and no one has been allowed off.
The World Health Organization confirmed the outbreak Sunday. While lab tests have only confirmed hantavirus in one patient so far, WHO says the other five symptomatic cases are suspected infections. According to CBS News, just one case has been confirmed through laboratory testing — a British man now in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa. WHO is treating the remaining five as suspected hantavirus based on the clinical picture.
“The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,” Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, said in a statement Monday.
Who died and how the outbreak unfolded
The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia in southern Argentina on a multi-week expedition cruise taking passengers through Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and a string of remote South Atlantic islands before heading toward the Canary Islands.
The first victim was a 70-year-old Dutch man who fell ill on April 11 with fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. He died on board, and his body was removed at the British territory of Saint Helena roughly two weeks later. His 69-year-old wife was evacuated to South Africa at the same time but collapsed at Johannesburg’s main international airport while trying to fly home to the Netherlands. She died at a hospital nearby.
A third passenger, a German national, died on board on Saturday, May 2. His body remains on the ship.
The British man in intensive care in Johannesburg fell ill near Ascension Island after the ship left Saint Helena and was evacuated on April 27. He was the first to test positive for hantavirus, and his condition remains critical. Two crew members still aboard the Hondius, one British and one Dutch, are also showing acute respiratory symptoms and need urgent medical care, operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.
149 people stranded, no one allowed to disembark
Cape Verde health authorities have visited the ship and assessed the sick crew members but have refused to allow anyone to disembark. Cape Verde’s health director, Angela Gomes, said the situation is being monitored closely.
Oceanwide Expeditions said the ship is managing a “serious medical situation” with “strict precautionary measures in process on board, including isolation measures.” No other passengers or crew are currently showing symptoms, the company added. If Cape Verde continues to refuse access, Oceanwide said it is considering moving the ship to Las Palmas or Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed two Dutch nationals had died and said it is exploring emergency medical evacuation options. “If this can take place, the ministry of foreign affairs will coordinate it,” a spokesperson told AFP.
The Hondius is a 351-foot polar cruise ship with 80 cabins and a passenger capacity of 170. It typically carries around 70 crew members, including an onboard doctor. The current manifest includes passengers from the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands, among other nationalities.
What is hantavirus and why is it rare
Hantavirus is spread primarily through contact with the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents such as rats and mice. The virus does not typically pass from person to person, though one strain, the Andes virus, is a known exception. It is primarily found in Chile and Argentina, the region where the Hondius originated.
The virus causes two dangerous syndromes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which attacks the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which damages the kidneys. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical intervention improves survival odds.
The disease recently made headlines in the United States after Betsy Arakawa, wife of actor Gene Hackman, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico. It is not clear how the infections aboard the Hondius occurred. The Ministry of Health of Tierra del Fuego, the Argentine province where Ushuaia is located, said there has never been a recorded case of hantavirus there, though the virus is endemic in other parts of Argentina and Chile.
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases is conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg area to identify anyone who may have been exposed to infected passengers while on South African soil. WHO has notified global health authorities under international health regulations and is continuing to coordinate the response.Cruise ships have seen more than their fair share of alarming on-board incidents. One TFF reader recently shared how she barely escaped what she called a free $10,000 cult cruise before going silent online. Meanwhile, open-water controversies aren’t limited to illness outbreaks: a Miami woman claims NFL players’ host kicked 12 girls off a yacht for being ugly.
