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Three people have died and several others have fallen ill aboard a Dutch cruise ship in what appears to be a deadly hantavirus outbreak. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The MV Hondius, a cruise liner operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, is currently located in the waters near Praia, Cape Verde, a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa. Officials in Cape Verde have refused to allow the ship to dock<\/a> over fears that the suspected outbreak might spread to shore. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n A married Dutch couple and a German national who were passengers on the ship have died. A British national aboard the ship was evacuated and is being treated in South Africa. That passenger was the first to be diagnosed with hantavirus infection<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that The WHO, which is managing the outbreak, maintains that the risk to the general public is low.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hantavirus cases in humans are rare. A recent case that made headlines involved the death of Betsy Arakawa, wife of acclaimed actor Gene Hackman, who was discovered dead<\/a> in their New Mexico home in April 2024. While Arakawa\u2019s cause of death was attributed to hantavirus, Hackman died of Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While hantavirus infection is uncommon, it is often fatal. The onset typically begins with nonspecific, flu-like symptoms. Infection is most often transmitted through exposure to rodents\u2019 urine or feces. Although Steven Bradfute<\/a>, PhD, an associate professor at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center who specializes in hantavirus research, said the situation aboard the cruise ship was unusual.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cUsually you have isolated cases, so to hear about a cruise ship with multiple people being infected was definitely not something on our radar,\u201d he told Healthline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Roughly 150 people, including passengers and crew, from more than 20 nations, still remain aboard. The ship may next be bound for the islands of Las Palmas or Tenerife, farther north on the African coast, in hopes of allowing passengers to disembark and undergo medical screening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201c[We are] working closely with local and international authorities,\u201d said Oceanwide Expeditions in a statement on May 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cStrict precautionary measures are in process on board, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring. All passengers have been informed and are being supported. Oceanwide Expeditions is in close contact with those directly involved and their families, and is providing support where possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The incubation period for hantavirus ranges from The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, left Ushuaia, southern Argentina, in March, roughly three weeks ago, on a long expedition cruise. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Its route included several stops in the Atlantic Ocean, including Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and Cape Verde.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A 70-year-old Dutch man died on April 11 after reportedly developing fever, headache, and abdominal pain<\/a>. On April 24, his body was removed in Saint Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic. His wife, a 69-year-old Dutch woman, also disembarked, accompanying his body for repatriation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n After disembarking, the woman began showing signs of illness during her journey home. She later died in South Africa at O. R. Tambo International Airport while attempting to return to the Netherlands. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n On April 27, the same day that the Dutch woman died, a British national aboard the MV Hondius became seriously ill after the ship left St. Helena. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The passenger was subsequently transferred to South Africa and treated in Johannesburg. The patient is in critical but stable condition. This case was the first laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infection linked to the incident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Onboard the ship, the situation continued to escalate. A German national died on May 2; details are sparse and the cause of death has not yet been established by Oceanwide Expeditions or the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Two crew members, one British and one Dutch, have also reported symptoms consistent with possible hantavirus illness. One was described as mild, and the other as severe; both reportedly require urgent medical care. No other passengers with symptoms have been identified at this time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s possible someone got the infection in Argentina, got on the boat, and it spread from person to person. It\u2019s also possible that passengers on the boat got it from the rodents that were already present on the ship,\u201d Bradfute said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n Hantavirus<\/a> is part of a group of related viruses that can cause serious illness in humans. It is most commonly transmitted through exposure to the urine, droppings, or saliva of wild rodents, including mice and rats. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The virus can also spread through inhalation of contaminated dust or aerosolized particles stirred into the air, particularly in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Symptoms of hantavirus infection vary by geographic region and virus type. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In North and South America, so-called \u201cNew World\u201d hantaviruses are most common. Early symptoms typically resemble the flu \u2014 fever, body aches, and vomiting \u2014 but can progress to a severe respiratory illness known as In early 2024, a spate of deaths linked to HPS<\/a> made headlines in the United States. Three individuals died in the rural area of Mammoth Lakes, CA. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIn the United States, the principal pathogen<\/a> is Sin Nombre virus, the most common cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS),\u201d said Robert Glatter<\/a>, MD, attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra\/ Northwell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cExposure is classically linked to infected deer mice and to aerosolized rodent urine, droppings, saliva, or nesting material. U.S. cases remain concentrated in the western states, especially west of the Mississippi River, although sporadic cases occur elsewhere,\u201d Glatter told Healthline.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n HPS affects the lungs, causing fluid buildup that makes breathing difficult. As oxygen levels drop, other organ systems can begin to fail. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe clinical presentation of HPS is deceptive at onset,\u201d Glatter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPatients usually begin with a short febrile prodrome marked by fever, myalgias, malaise<\/a>, headache, and often gastrointestinal symptoms. What makes hantavirus dangerous is the potential for abrupt progression over the next several days to cough, shortness of breath<\/a>, noncardiogenic pulmonary edema<\/a>, shock, and rapid respiratory failure<\/a>,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Early warning signs of hantavirus may include low platelet counts<\/a>, dehydration<\/a>, high white blood counts, and mild elevation of liver enzymes, Glatter explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSevere \u2018Old World\u2019 viruses such as Hantaan and Dobrava can carry materially higher fatality than milder viruses such as Puumala or often Seoul virus, whereas New World HPS viruses in the Americas can have fatality in the 30\u201340% range, and sometimes higher in specific South American outbreaks,\u201d Glatter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There are no approved vaccines or therapeutics available to treat HPS. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Instead, the disease is treated through supportive care, primarily supplying the blood with oxygen. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite the alarming reputation of hantavirus, Bradfute emphasizes that infection is both preventable and rare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPanicking is not a good thing to do. We haven\u2019t had huge hantavirus outbreaks like flu or COVID because these viruses just don\u2019t transmit well,\u201d Bradfute said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMost hantaviruses are not spread person-to-person,\u201d Glatter said. \u201cCDC cruise guidance and reporting materials support that cruise-related public health reporting focuses mainly on gastrointestinal and respiratory illness and death reporting, not hantavirus as a typical onboard transmissible risk,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2018New World\u2019 hantavirus<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
\u2018Old World\u2019 hantavirus<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n