WHO Says Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak Likely to Remain Contained
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the recent hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship is expected to remain limited, despite fears after three passengers died and several others were infected.
Health authorities across multiple countries are tracing passengers and close contacts after cases were linked to the MV Hondius, a cruise ship that sailed from Argentina. Officials say five infections have been confirmed so far, with three additional suspected cases.
The fatalities include a Dutch couple and a German passenger. Another infected traveller arrived in Europe on Thursday as the ship continued toward Tenerife in Spain.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that additional cases could still emerge because the incubation period of the Andes strain of hantavirus can last up to six weeks. However, WHO officials stressed that the situation is under control and does not pose a pandemic-level threat.
“This is not the start of an epidemic or a pandemic,” WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove said, noting that hantavirus is far less contagious than Covid-19.
The rare Andes strain identified aboard the vessel is unusual because it can spread between humans. Hantavirus is typically transmitted through contact with infected rodents and can cause severe respiratory and cardiac illness. There is currently no vaccine or specific cure.
Authorities believe one passenger may have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and later transmitted it to others during the voyage across the Atlantic.
Passengers and crew linked to the outbreak are being monitored or isolated in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.
The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said no symptomatic individuals remain onboard. Several infected passengers were evacuated for treatment, while health officials continue contact tracing efforts involving passengers who disembarked at different ports.
South African authorities are also tracing passengers who travelled on a commercial flight taken by one of the deceased passengers while she was symptomatic.
Argentine officials have announced plans to test rodents in Ushuaia, the southern city where the cruise departed, as part of efforts to determine the source of the outbreak.
