Trapped with a virus: How hantavirus turned an Antarctic cruise into horror at sea

The WHO said all affected passengers fell ill between April 6 and 28, with symptoms that rapidly progressed to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress.

In Short

• Three dead in hantavirus outbreak on Dutch cruise ship near West Africa
• Seven cases identified, two lab-confirmed, five suspected
• Ship denied docking in Cape Verde; passengers stranded, WHO calls for calm

Three people are dead and nearly 150 others remain stranded at sea after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a luxury cruise ship anchored off the coast of West Africa.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed on Monday that seven cases have been identified aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a vessel that set sail from Argentina on an Antarctic nature expedition just weeks ago.

Out of seven cases, two have been confirmed by laboratory tests and five are still under suspicion.

The victims on the cruise included a Dutch couple and a German national. Meanwhile, a British passenger who fell ill was airlifted to a private medical facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he remains in critical condition.

Two crew members on board are also experiencing acute respiratory symptoms and are being provided with urgent medical care.

WHAT IS HANTAVIRUS?

Hantavirus is a rare but potentially deadly infection, most commonly spread through contact with infected rodents.

Hantavirus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness, can be spread when particles from rodent droppings or urine become airborne. It does not transfer easily between humans.

Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how passengers on the Hondius came to be infected.

Daniel Bausch, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland, said there was some evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Andes Virus, a species of hantavirus found in Argentina and Chile.

"So it's significant that this cruise ship started its journey in Argentina," he told NBC News.

HOW THE VIRUS SPREAD AT SEA

The cruise ship Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March and set off on a voyage marked as an Antarctic nature expedition.

It travelled past mainland Antarctica, and a number of other destinations, before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.

The first victims on the cruise were a married Dutch couple.

South Africa's Health Department confirmed two of the dead were Dutch nationals, including a 70-year-old man, who died on St Helena on April 11, and his 69-year-old wife, who died in South Africa after collapsing at OR Tambo International Airport.

A German national then died on board on May 2.

The WHO said all affected passengers fell ill between April 6 and 28, with symptoms that rapidly progressed to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress.

For those still on board, the anguish of the situation has been raw.

"We're not just headlines: we're people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home," Jake Rosmarin, a US travel blogger, said in a tearful Instagram video post from the ship. "There is a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part," he said.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The ship's arrival off the coast of Cape Verde brought little relief.

Authorities there refused to allow the Hondius to dock as a precaution, leaving its 149 passengers and crew anchored offshore with no clear path to disembarkation.

The company said it was looking into whether passengers could be screened and disembarked on the islands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.

Spanish authorities said they had not yet received a request for the ship to dock and disembark passengers there.

Meanwhile, medics were working to evacuate the two symptomatic crew members using specialised aircraft.

The WHO, for its part, has urged calm.

IS THERE A VACCINE FOR HANTAVIRUS?

What's more worrying is the fact that there are no specific drugs to treat the disease. The treatment is therefore limited to supportive care, including putting patients on ventilators in severe cases.

Patients who contract the virus mostly just receive supportive care, which includes rest, hydration, and treatment of symptoms.

Those with severe breathing difficulties may need to be intubated. In the most critical cases, patients are placed on machines that oxygenate the blood externally.

The silver lining is that the global health body assessed the risk to the wider public as low, saying there was no need for panic or travel restrictions, a message that has offered some comfort, even as nearly 150 people wait anxiously on the water.

- Ends