The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a list of six countries with confirmed or probable cases involving nationals infected with hantavirus following the outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius.
Eight cases have been confirmed, while two are listed as “probable”, according to the UN health agency and national health authorities. Citizens of six countries have been affected.
Three people have died — two with confirmed hantavirus infections and one classified as a probable case.
Health authorities are also investigating other suspected cases and potential close contacts of infected persons.
Netherlands
Two Dutch nationals from the ship have died from the virus, while one additional case has been confirmed.
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A Dutch couple who had travelled around South America before boarding the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1, were the first fatalities linked to the outbreak.
The husband, 70, developed symptoms on April 6 and died on April 11. His body was removed from the ship during its April 22–24 stop at Saint Helena, an island in the South Atlantic.
No hantavirus test was carried out, and the WHO classifies him as a “probable case”.
His 69-year-old wife also disembarked at Saint Helena after falling ill. Her condition worsened during a flight to Johannesburg on April 25, and she died in hospital the following day. Hantavirus infection was confirmed on May 4.
The third Dutch case involved the ship’s doctor, who reported symptoms on April 30. He tested positive for the Andes strain of the virus on May 6.
He was evacuated to the Netherlands the same day after the ship stopped in Cape Verde and was reported to be stable while receiving treatment in isolation.
Britain
Two British nationals have been confirmed infected, while another is classified as a probable case.
One British man became ill on April 24 with symptoms including fever and pneumonia. He was evacuated three days later from Ascension Island in the Atlantic to South Africa, where he was admitted to intensive care.
Hantavirus infection was confirmed on May 2, while sequencing later identified the Andes strain.
A second British man, who worked as a guide on the ship, developed symptoms on April 27 and tested positive on May 6.
He was evacuated to the Netherlands from Cape Verde on May 7 and was said to be stable while receiving treatment in isolation.
A third British man left the Hondius on April 14 for Tristan da Cunha, a South Atlantic archipelago, where he was treated in isolation.
He developed symptoms on April 28, and the WHO classified him as a “probable case” pending laboratory results.
British paratroopers and medics later parachuted onto the island to deliver urgent medical supplies, according to government officials.
Germany
A German woman who developed a fever on April 28 and later pneumonia died on board the ship on May 2.
A post-mortem sample was sent to the Netherlands alongside evacuated patients, where tests confirmed infection with the Andes strain of hantavirus.
Her body remained aboard the Hondius, which was expected to depart Tenerife in Spain for the Netherlands late Monday.
Switzerland
A Swiss man disembarked from the Hondius at Saint Helena on April 22 and travelled to Switzerland on April 27 via South Africa and Qatar.
He developed symptoms on May 1 after arriving in Switzerland. He was treated in isolation and tested positive for the Andes strain on May 5.
France
A French woman repatriated from the Hondius became unwell late on May 10 and later tested positive for hantavirus, according to French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist.
United States
One of 17 American citizens repatriated from the ship tested “mildly PCR positive” for the virus, while another experienced “mild symptoms”, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services on May 10.
AFP
