The Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions reports that, among the 149 people traveling on the MV Hondius cruise ship, on which a possible hantavirus outbreak has been detected, there are 38 Filipinos (all crew members), 23 British, 17 Americans and 14 Spaniards, as well as an Argentine passenger and a crew member of Guatemalan nationality.
The ship is off the coast of Cape Verde, whose local authorities They have denied entry for reasons of public safety.
The Spanish Ministry of Health points out that the evidence indicates that the people affected by hantavirus on the cruise ship, which departed from Argentina, They were infected on the boat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on May 3 that at least six people were affected by the possible outbreak: three dead and three sick.
The boat set sail with 150 tourists from Ushuaia (southern Argentina) on March 20 to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands archipelago.
“Current evidence suggests that they were infected on the boat itself. The hantavirus It is spread mainly through rat droppings in areas where the virus circulates.. An adventure zone where the deceased were is a rat zone with hantavirus. Even so, it cannot be ruled out that someone was infected inside the ship by rats or that the doctor was infected through close contact with one of the deceased,” explain the Spanish health authorities.
The hantavirus usually contracted by inhalationthat is, when breathing in open or closed places where the feces or urine of infected rodents release the virus and contaminate the environment.
It is also possible contagion through direct contactby touching live or dead infected rodents, or their feces or urine, and, less frequently, through bites or scratches.
The countries that reported cases in 2025 are Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, the United States, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay. The total was 229 cases and 59 deaths.
The period of incubation is one to three weeks and, although there are cases that present without illness or in a mild form, the symptoms are similar to the flu: fever, headache and muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and even abdominal pain and diarrhea.
There is no specific treatment, although in some cases, after a few days, respiratory distress may occur which, if worsened, leads to the so-called “hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome”, which is rare, but which can cause death.
In these patients it is requires hospital care, preferably with mechanical respiratory assistance, reminds the Spanish institution.
For their part, the Argentine authorities assure that There are no confirmed cases or evidence of hantavirus in Tierra del Fuego.
South African authorities confirmed the death of a Dutch couple and a British citizen, who is in intensive care in Johannesburg.
The first patient was a 70-year-old passenger, who fell ill on board the ship and presented fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
He died on the island of Saint Helena, where his remains remain awaiting repatriation.
The second victim was his 69-year-old wife, who “he fainted” at the airport international OR Tambo, in Johannesburg, “while trying to take a connecting flight to the Netherlands,” and died after being transferred to a nearby medical center.
The third patient is a British man. It is the only case laboratory confirmed as hantavirus infection.
“In our opinion, there is no reason for public panic, as only two patients from the cruise ship have been within our borders. The World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating a joint response with all affected islands and countries to contain the spread of the disease,” says the South African Health Department.
The WHO assures that it is acting with a sense of urgency to support the response to the hantavirus outbreak that occurred on board the cruise ship and that there is no cause for alarm or risk for the general population.