Three Dead, One Severely Ill in Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak
An outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship has left three people dead, with another person in intensive care in Johannesburg, the BBC reports. The ship, MV Hondius, departed from Argentina and had completed its cruise in Cape Verde.
Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale told the BBC that there were 150 passengers of various nationalities aboard the vessel.
The three victims were all of Dutch nationality. The first, a 70-year old man, suddenly fell ill, developing fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, Mohale reported. The man died at the UK island of St Helena. The second, the man’s 69-year old wife, was evacuated to a Johannesburg hospital but also died there. The body of the third victim is awaiting repatriation, along with a guest “closely associated” with them. A 69-year-old man from the UK remains severely ill in a Johannesburg hospital.
Two crewmembers are also understood to be seriously ill but medical authorities in Cape Verde have not given them authority to disembark.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents, and can cause serious illnesses and death. These viruses cause diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). About half of patients will develop abdominal symptoms similar to the first passenger who dies.
Speaking to the BBC, microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles speculates on the possibility that additional cases will develop among the ship’s passengers and crew.
“With this incubation period are we going to see more people coming down with the disease in the next days and weeks?”
