Evacuations planned as suspected hantavirus outbreak traps 150 on cruise ship off Cape Verde
Cape Verde has not allowed the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.
Cruise ship MV Hondius docks off Cape Verde port, as passengers were not allowed off the ship, while health authorities investigated suspected cases of hantavirus aboard the vessel, in Praia Port, Cape Verde, May 4, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)
AMSTERDAM: Medics were working on Monday (May 4) to evacuate two people with symptoms of the deadly hantavirus after a suspected outbreak on a luxury cruise ship held off West Africa carrying mostly British, American and Spanish passengers, officials said.
Around 150 people were still stuck on the vessel after three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - died, and others fell ill, including a Briton who left the vessel and was being treated in South Africa, authorities added.
The Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which is assisting with the outbreak, said hantavirus had been confirmed in one of the patients showing symptoms.
A source briefed on the matter said that the Dutch woman who died had tested positive for the virus as well.
RIVM said it was still unclear if the other people with symptoms also had the virus, or if the other deaths were also caused by the virus.
Hantavirus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness, can be spread when particles from rodent droppings or urine become airborne. It does not transfer easily between humans.
There are no specific drugs to treat the disease, so treatment focuses on supportive care, including putting patients on ventilators in severe cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the risk to the wider public was low and there was no need for panic or travel restrictions.
But authorities in the island nation of Cape Verde said they had not allowed Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.
The WHO said in a statement that it had identified seven cases of hantavirus aboard the luxury cruise ship, including two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases.
What is hantavirus?
Hantavirus is a family of viruses that cause two illnesses, one that primarily affects the lungs and the other that attacks the kidneys.
The former gets the most attention because it has a high fatality rate of about 40 per cent.
While the virus is primarily spread by rodents, it can be transmitted between people in rare cases, according to WHO.
People usually become infected when the virus in rodent droppings, saliva and urine becomes airborne, such as when areas where rats and mice have nested are swept out.
The illness typically begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after exposure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Four to 10 days later, coughing, shortness of breath and fluid in the lungs appear.
According to the CDC, diagnosis in the first 72 hours of infection is difficult as the symptoms can easily be mistaken for the flu.
There is no specific therapy for hantavirus infection, so treatment focuses on supportive care, including rest and fluids.
Patients may need breathing support such as a ventilator.
Experts say exposure to the virus can be minimised by deterring and eliminating rodents from areas. People are also advised to avoid vacuuming or sweeping dried droppings, as this can aerosolise the virus.
"A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY"
"We're not just headlines: we're people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home," Jake Rosmarin, a US travel blogger, said in a tearful Instagram video post from the ship on Monday.
"There is a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part," he added.
A spokesperson for the ship's Netherlands-based operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said that, as a precaution, all passengers were instructed to remain inside their cabins to prevent any potential spread of the virus.
Although human-to-human transmission is rare, the incubation period can last several weeks, meaning some people may not yet be showing symptoms.
Oceanwide Expeditions was trying to arrange the repatriation of two crew members with symptoms of the disease - one British and one Dutch - along with the body of the German national and a "guest closely associated with the deceased" who does not have symptoms.
The company said it was looking into whether passengers could be screened and disembarked on the islands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.
Spanish authorities said they had not yet received a request for the ship to dock and disembark passengers there.
The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, which Oceanwide Expeditions said would be the one making the request, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March, according to company documentation, on a voyage marketed as an Antarctic nature expedition, with berth prices ranging from 14,000 to 22,000 euros (US$16,000 to US$25,000).
It travelled past mainland Antarctica, the Falklands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St Helena, and Ascension before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.
South Africa's Health Department confirmed two of the dead were Dutch nationals: a 70-year-old man, who died on St Helena on Apr 11, and his wife, 69, who died in South Africa after collapsing at OR Tambo International Airport.
The British man being treated in a private clinic in Johannesburg became ill on Apr 27, while the German victim on the ship died on May 2, Oceanwide Expeditions said.
SOURCE NOT YET CLEAR
Hantavirus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after exposure.
A spokesperson for the RIVM said the source of the outbreak was unclear.
"You could imagine, for example, that rats on board the ship transmitted the virus," he said.
"But another possibility is that during a stop somewhere in South America, people were infected, for instance via mice, and became ill that way."
Daniel Bausch, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland, said there was some evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Andes Virus, a species of hantavirus found in Argentina and Chile.
"So it's significant that this cruise ship started its journey in Argentina," he said.
"The good news is ... this is not going to be a big outbreak," he added.
Speaking to CNA’s Asia Now, Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, described the situation as “almost a one-off” and unlikely to pose a broader global risk.
He said a cruise ship setting is highly unusual for hantavirus, which is more commonly linked to exposure in rodent-infested environments such as homes or sheds.
This makes identifying the source of infection – whether onboard or during earlier stops in South America – a key priority for investigators, he noted.
