LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- The growing hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has intensified emergency measures after more passengers tested positive following their evacuation from the vessel.
Health authorities confirmed on Monday that an American and French passenger evacuated from the ship were infected with the rare virus, which has already claimed three lives during the voyage.
French Health Minister Stephanie Rist, said the female French passenger, who was among five passengers repatriated to France on Sunday from the cruise ship, began showing symptoms later that night.
“Tests came back positive,” Rist stated.
The United States health department also disclosed that one American passenger developed mild symptoms, while another tested positive for the Andes virus, the only strain of hantavirus known to spread between humans.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia on April 1 for a transatlantic journey to Cape Verde.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the first infection likely occurred before the cruise began, followed by human-to-human transmission onboard the vessel.
However, health officials in Argentina questioned if the outbreak truly started in Ushuaia, pointing to the virus’s long incubation period and other medical factors.
So far, three passengers, a Dutch couple and a German woman have died from the disease, while several others remain under medical observation.
Hantavirus is commonly linked to rodents and remains endemic in parts of Argentina.
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Although health experts reveal that there are currently no vaccines or approved treatments for the disease, officials calmed the public saying, the outbreak does not pose the same level of global danger as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, Stephanie Rist revealed that 22 additional contact cases involving French nationals had been identified.
The cases include eight passengers who travelled on an April 25 flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg, alongside 14 others connected to a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam.
Authorities also confirmed that the Dutch woman who later died had boarded the Amsterdam-bound flight before she was removed prior to departure.
Across multiple countries, health agencies have begun tracing passengers who already left the ship, together with individuals who may have had close contact with them during travel.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia announced in Tenerife that 94 people from 19 nationalities were evacuated on Sunday as part of an ongoing repatriation operation.
Spanish authorities added that most of the ship’s nearly 150 passengers and crew members would continue to be flown home before worsening weather conditions force the vessel to depart.
Passengers were seen leaving the ship dressed in Hamzat suits at the industrial port of Granadilla in Tenerife during the evacuation process.
Initially, the regional government of the Canary Islands had resisted allowing the vessel into port, permitting it only to anchor offshore during the emergency response.
The WHO has also recommended a 42-day quarantine period with daily monitoring for symptoms such as fever.
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Maria Van Kerkhove, the organization’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness director, said countries should maintain “active follow-up” of all exposed individuals.
Different governments have adopted varying quarantine measures. Greece confirmed that one Greek evacuee would remain under mandatory hospital quarantine in Athens for 45 days, while 14 Spanish citizens will isolate at a military hospital in Madrid.
In Australia, six evacuees are expected to spend at least three weeks in a quarantine facility north of Perth.
British authorities also disclosed that 20 UK passengers would undergo testing and short-term quarantine at a hospital near Liverpool.
The American group evacuated from the ship were expected to arrive in Omaha early morning Monday, according to officials from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
However, the Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jay Bhattacharya, said American passengers may not face mandatory quarantine.
“Depending on the estimated risk, passengers can choose to go home ‘without exposing other people on the way’,” he explained.
In light of this situation, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who travelled to Tenerife to supervise the evacuations, warned that such an approach “may have risks”.
Public health agencies worldwide are closely monitoring the outbreak while urging travellers to report symptoms quickly, follow quarantine guidance, and avoid unnecessary exposure during the ongoing containment effort.
