Two individuals in serious condition, evacuated from a cruise ship experiencing a confirmed outbreak of deadly hantavirus, have arrived in the Netherlands for treatment, according to operator Oceanwide Expeditions. A third passenger, in stable condition, was on board an evacuation flight that faced delays.
The MV Hondius is now en route to Spain’s Canary Islands after being anchored for three days near Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast.
The three evacuees were British, Dutch, and German nationals. Oceanwide Expeditions stated that the 65-year-old German evacuee was “closely associated” with a German woman who died on board the ship on May 2. The British evacuee has been identified by several media outlets as 56-year-old ex-police officer Martin Anstee, who is reportedly in a “stable condition” in the Netherlands. A 41-year-old Dutch crew member is also among those evacuated.
Three people who were aboard the ship have died since it departed Argentina a month ago. Meanwhile, two US states have confirmed to the BBC that they are monitoring three passengers who returned to the US after disembarking earlier. All are currently asymptomatic.
Georgia’s public health department reported that two residents were being monitored, were in good health, and showed no signs of infection. Arizona’s health department confirmed one resident was under monitoring but was not symptomatic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also confirmed that a man who traveled back to Switzerland after disembarking the ship tested positive for hantavirus and is receiving care at a hospital in Zurich.
“The patient had responded to an email from the ship’s operator informing the passengers of the health event,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. A total of 146 people from 23 different countries remain aboard the MV Hondius under “strict precautionary measures,” Oceanwide Expeditions added.
In its latest update, the WHO stated that eight cases of hantavirus – three confirmed and five suspected – have so far been identified in people who were on the ship. South African health authorities have indicated that the Andes strain of hantavirus, prevalent in Latin America where the cruise originated, was found in two of the confirmed patients after tests conducted by the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. Experts have noted the Andes strain’s ability to spread between human patients in previous outbreaks, and South Africa’s efforts to trace all contacts are ongoing.
While most hantaviruses do not transmit from person to person, rare instances of human transmission have been documented with the Andes virus strain. Hantaviruses are carried by rodents, and human infections typically occur in environments where people and rodents coexist. Infection usually happens by breathing in air contaminated with virus particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. Symptoms of hantavirus infection can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or shortness of breath. In severe cases, individuals may develop significant breathing difficulties, low blood pressure, and kidney failure, necessitating hospital care. Currently, there is no widely available vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus infections.
Officials have stated that one of the deceased had the virus, while the other two deaths are under investigation. The three deaths on board include a Dutch woman who left the MV Hondius when it stopped at the island of St Helena on April 24. Her husband died on board on April 11, but is not a confirmed case. The Dutch woman traveled to South Africa, where she died on April 26. WHO official Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove informed the BBC that health experts were conducting contact tracing on the flight she took. KLM Airlines issued an advisory stating the woman had also briefly been aboard one of their flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 before the crew decided she could not fly due to her medical condition. The third fatality, a German woman, is also not a confirmed case, and her body remains on the ship.
None of the three people medically evacuated on Wednesday have tested positive for hantavirus so far, though two are exhibiting symptoms. This development comes as the UK’s Health Security Agency reported that two British individuals were self-isolating at home in the UK after potential exposure to the virus on the ship. They had disembarked earlier in the journey and were asymptomatic.
According to figures released by Oceanwide Expeditions on Tuesday, there were 19 passengers and four crew members listed as British on board, including Anstee, who was evacuated on Wednesday. Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents, but health experts believe that in this particular case, it may have passed between humans who were in close contact. Testing to confirm whether other people on the ship have contracted the virus is ongoing. Health officials have emphasized that the risk of transmission to the wider public is low.
The vessel had been anchored near Cape Verde before it departed for the Canary Islands on Wednesday. Spanish authorities approved the move, but the Canary Islands’ president has opposed the plan. “I cannot allow [the boat] to enter the Canaries,” Fernando Clavijo told Spain’s Onda Cero radio. “This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor have we been given enough information.”
Spain’s Health Minister Mónica García stated that everyone on board will undergo a medical assessment upon arrival in Tenerife, and if fit to travel, those from abroad will be repatriated to their home countries. Spanish nationals will be sent to a defense hospital in Madrid for quarantine. García assured that the evacuation would “avoid contact” with Canary Island citizens and there would be “no risk” to them when the ship arrives in Tenerife in the coming days. Dr. Van Kerkhove clarified that the way hantavirus is transmitted “is very different than COVID and flu,” emphasizing that it involves “really physical contact” rather than casual contact from a distance.
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