Three passengers have died and three other people are receiving medical care after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship traveling in the Atlantic Ocean, health officials said.
The World Health Organization described the situation as a “public health event” involving six people. In a statement Sunday, the agency said one case had been confirmed as hantavirus, while five others were suspected.
The outbreak involved the cruise ship Hondius, which remained off Cape Verde, an African country in the Atlantic. Health authorities there boarded the vessel to assess the symptomatic people, but they had not allowed those individuals to disembark, according to the ship’s operator.
Two of the passengers who died were identified as a married couple from the Netherlands.
Foster Mohale, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Health Ministry, said a 70-year-old man was declared dead on arrival in St. Helena, an island located between South America and Africa. His 69-year-old wife later collapsed at Johannesburg’s international airport while trying to travel back to the Netherlands and died at a health facility.
The man’s remains were still in St. Helena, awaiting repatriation to the Netherlands, Mohale said.
Details about the third death were not immediately available in the original report.
U.K. Passenger Tests Positive for Hantavirus
A passenger from the United Kingdom became sick while the ship was traveling from St. Helena to Ascension Island. Mohale said the man was being treated at a hospital in South Africa and that his lab results came back positive for hantavirus.
Both the World Health Organization and cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said one person was in intensive care in South Africa.
The WHO also said it was assisting the ship’s operators with a medical evacuation for two other symptomatic people. However, the original report did not confirm whether that evacuation had already taken place.
Hondius Remains Off Cape Verde
The cruise ship Hondius was still positioned off Cape Verde as officials worked through the health emergency.
The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said the two symptomatic people still on board were crew members. The Netherlands-based company said its priority was to make sure those individuals received fast and adequate medical care.
Authorities in Cape Verde had visited the vessel to assess the situation. Still, the company said the symptomatic people had not been authorized to leave the ship.
The vessel had an estimated 150 passengers and began its journey from Ushuaia, Argentina, about three weeks earlier, Mohale said.
