Seven cases of hantavirus identified on cruise ship - WHO

The World Health Organization ⁠said that seven cases of hantavirus have been identified after a ‌suspected ⁠outbreak on a luxury cruise ship held off West Africa carrying mostly British, American ‌and Spanish passengers.

"As of 4 May, ‌seven cases (two laboratory confirmed cases of hantavirus ⁠and ‌five suspected cases) have been identified, including three ⁠deaths, one critically ill ⁠patient and three individuals reporting mild symptoms," WHO said.

Medics were working yesterday to evacuate two people with symptoms of the virus.

Around 150 people were still stuck on the vessel after three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - died, and others fell ill, including a Briton who left the vessel and was being treated in South Africa, authorities added.

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.

READ MORE: Two Irish passengers on board virus-hit cruise ship

There are no specific drugs to treat the disease, so treatment focuses on supportive care, including putting patients on ventilators in severe cases.

WHO said the risk to the wider public was low and there was no need ‌for panic or travel restrictions.

However, authorities in the island nation ⁠of Cape Verde said they had not allowed Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.

'A lot of uncertainty'

"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 yesterday.

"There is a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part," he added.

A spokesperson for the ship's Netherlands-based operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said that, as a precaution, all passengers were instructed to remain inside their cabins to prevent any potential spread ‌of the virus.

Although human-to-human transmission is rare, the incubation period can last several weeks, meaning some people may not yet be showing symptoms.

Oceanwide Expeditions was trying to arrange the repatriation of two crew members with symptoms of the disease - one British and one Dutch - along with the body of the German national and ⁠a "guest closely associated with the deceased" who does not have symptoms.

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.

The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, which Oceanwide Expeditions said ⁠would be the one making the ‌request, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March, according to company documentation, on a voyage marketed as an Antarctic nature expedition, with berth prices ranging from €14,000 to €22,000.

It travelled past mainland Antarctica, the Falklands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St Helena, and Ascension before reaching Cape Verdean waters on 3 May.

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

The British man being treated in a private clinic in Johannesburg became ill on 27 April, while the German passenger died ⁠on 2 May, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Two Irish people are among 150 people on board the cruise ship.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is aware of two Irish citizens on board the vessel and is providing consular assistance.

Source not yet clear

Hantavirus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after exposure. A spokesperson for the RIVM said the source of the outbreak was unclear.

"You could imagine, for example, that rats on board the ship transmitted the virus," he said.

"But another possibility is that during a stop somewhere in South America, people were infected, for instance via mice, and became ill that way," he added.

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 said.

"The good news is this is not going to be a big outbreak," he added.