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Health authorities in several countries are working to identify and monitor passengers who left a cruise ship linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak before the illness was officially detected.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, which is carrying more than 140 passengers and crew, is currently heading toward Spain’s Canary Islands after departing Cape Verde. Three passengers have died so far, including a Dutch couple and a German woman, while several others have fallen ill.
Officials say at least 30 passengers disembarked on April 24 during a stop on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. Dutch authorities believe the number may have been closer to 40. Those passengers traveled onward to different parts of the world before health authorities confirmed the first hantavirus case on May 2.
Investigators are now tracing contacts across multiple countries, including South Africa, Singapore, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and St. Helena.
The outbreak is believed to involve the Andes virus, a rare South American strain of hantavirus that can spread between people. Most hantaviruses are transmitted through exposure to infected rodent droppings and do not usually pass from person to person.
The World Health Organization said the overall public risk remains low, adding that the outbreak is expected to stay contained if countries continue coordinated monitoring and isolation measures.
Three people, including the ship’s doctor, were evacuated from the vessel Wednesday while it was near Cape Verde and transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe.
The first death occurred on April 11, when a Dutch passenger died on board. His body was removed in St. Helena on April 24. His wife disembarked the same day, later flew to South Africa and died there after becoming seriously ill.
A British passenger evacuated to South Africa tested positive for hantavirus on May 2 and remains in intensive care.
Swiss authorities also confirmed a positive case in a passenger who had previously left the ship in St. Helena. Singapore is monitoring two passengers who returned home after traveling through South Africa, while officials in St. Helena have instructed several high-risk contacts to isolate for 45 days.
Dutch authorities said a flight attendant who briefly interacted with one infected passenger in South Africa later developed symptoms and is being tested in Amsterdam. If confirmed positive, she would become the first known infection connected to the outbreak involving someone who was not aboard the ship.
South African officials are concentrating part of their investigation on an April 25 flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg that carried the Dutch woman who later died. French health authorities said a French citizen linked to that flight has developed mild symptoms and is undergoing testing in isolation.
Laboratory testing has confirmed at least five infections tied to the Andes virus. The disease can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory illness that can become fatal.
Attention has now turned to Argentina, where investigators suspect the outbreak may have originated before the cruise began. According to the WHO, the Dutch couple had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip before boarding the ship and visited areas inhabited by rodents known to carry the virus.
Argentine authorities are focusing their investigation on the southern city of Ushuaia. Scientists are expected to collect and test rodents in the area in the coming days.
The WHO said it is coordinating with Argentine health officials and has arranged for 2,500 diagnostic kits to be distributed to laboratories in five countries.
Argentina reported 28 hantavirus-related deaths last year, nearly double the average annual figure recorded over the previous five years.
