JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — The cruise ship where a deadly hantavirus outbreak has been identified sits at anchor off the coast of Cape Verde with nearly 150 people aboard, waiting on Wednesday to head toward the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Africa and Switzerland identified a strain of the virus that can be transmitted from person to person in rare cases.
Three passengers have died and others have fallen ill with hantavirus aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius. Typically, hantavirus spreads through inhaling dust contaminated with rodent droppings.
The ship departed Argentina on April 1 for an Atlantic-crossing cruise and had planned calls at Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and other destinations. However, the itinerary appears to have shifted because of developments aboard.
The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that three patients with suspected hantavirus infections had been evacuated from the ship and were en route to the Netherlands.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency is working with the operators of the MV Hondius, the Dutch-flagged cruise ship, to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew.
“At this stage, the overall risk to public health remains low,” he wrote on his X account.
Among the patients is the ship’s doctor, the Spanish Ministry of Health said. The ministry said on Wednesday that the doctor, who was initially slated to be flown to the Canary Islands, is now being evacuated directly to his home country, the Netherlands, after his condition improved.
Meanwhile, Swiss authorities said on Wednesday that a man who had returned from South America and traveled on the affected cruise tested positive for the virus and is receiving treatment.
The Spanish Ministry of Health said in a late Tuesday statement that it would receive the MV Hondius in the Canary Islands after a request from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Despite some opposition from regional authorities, the government insisted that ultimately the decision would rest with it.
But for now the ship remains idle off the coast of Cape Verde, a nation of islands off West Africa in the Atlantic. The World Health Organization said passengers are quarantined in their cabins.
South African Tests First Confirm Andes Virus
South African health authorities said they identified the Andes strain of hantavirus in two passengers on the ship, and Swiss authorities said they identified the same virus in their patient.
The World Health Organization says that the Andes virus, a specific hantavirus lineage, is found in South America, primarily Argentina and Chile.
The Andes virus can be transmitted between people, though this is rare and the spread of the disease is generally contained because it would occur only through close contact, such as sharing a bed or meals, according to experts.
The South African Department of Health noted in a briefing that the information came from tests performed on passengers after they were evacuated from the ship and flown to South Africa.
One of the passengers, a British national, is in an intensive care unit at a South African hospital. Tests were conducted on the other passenger posthumously after she died in South Africa.
A Swiss Man Infected
A press release from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health said the man “returned to Switzerland after traveling on the cruise where several hantavirus cases occurred.” It said his case also involved the Andes virus.
The Swiss health office said initially that the patient hospitalized in Zurich had “returned from a trip to South America” with his wife at the end of April, without specifics. Simon Ming, a spokesman for the office, clarified via email that the patient disembarked during a stop in Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic.
It was not immediately clear when that was or how he returned to Switzerland.
The wife of the patient has shown no symptoms, but has voluntarily quarantined herself as a precaution, the statement said.
The public health office said that “currently there is no risk to the Swiss population.”
The WHO said in a post on social media that the man responded to “an email from the ship operator informing passengers of the health event” and went to the hospital.
The Cruise Awaits Departure Toward Spain
The cruise will be welcomed in the Canary Islands, Spain, according to Spanish authorities, while the vessel waited off the coast of West Africa for a third day on Wednesday as sick passengers were evacuated.
However, Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canary Islands, said on Wednesday that he was concerned that the ship’s arrival could put the local population at risk and demanded an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“Neither the Canary Islands population nor the government can remain at ease because the threat to public health is real,” Clavijo told the Onda Cero radio station.
An Altered Voyage
The World Health Organization has said the ship carried an itinerary that included stops across the South Atlantic, including continental Antarctica and the remote islands of South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, and Ascension.
The cruise line has only disclosed a few details about two ports of call. In Saint Helena, the body of the Dutch man suspected of being the first hantavirus case aboard was removed from the ship. His wife also disembarked in Saint Helena and flew to South Africa, where she died.
The company said that a British man was later evacuated from the ship on Ascension Island and transported to South Africa, where he is in an intensive-care unit.
The company has not disclosed whether other people left the cruise at those or other locations.
