WHO says six hantavirus cases confirmed so far

There are six confirmed cases of hantavirus so far out of eight suspected ones following an outbreak on a cruise ship, the World Health Organization said.

"As of 8 May, a total of eight cases, including three deaths (case fatality ratio 38%), have been reported. Six cases have been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infections, with all identified as Andes virus (ANDV)," it said in a statement.

"WHO assesses the risk to the global population posed by this event as low and will continue to monitor the epidemiological situation and update the risk assessment".

"The risk for passengers and crew on the ship is considered moderate," it added.

Meanwhile, the United States said it was organising an evacuation flight for Americans on the MV Hondius that has sailed to the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain.

"The Department of State is arranging a repatriation flight to support the safe return of American passengers on this ship," a State Department spokesperson said.

The State Department said it was coordinating with the Spanish government as well as other US federal agencies.

"We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain," the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.

The ship operator earlier said that 17 Americans were onboard. The State Department did not immediately give a number of US passengers.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius - a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman - have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person - Andes virus - has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fueling international concern.

The ship is due in Tenerife tomorrow.

The flight will then take the American cruise passengers to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and then on to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

"At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low," the CDC said.

Nebraska Medicine, a health care network, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said that the US citizens will be cared for in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit.

"At this time, the individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness," they said in a statement.

The World Health Organization has said that the United States is among 12 countries with nationals who have already left the ship, on the remote British island of Saint Helena on 24 April.

It comes as a provincial official in Argentina said that there is an "almost zero" chance that the Dutch man linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius contracted the disease in the Argentine port of Ushuaia.

Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is located, told reporters that his assessment was based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors.