A Dutch cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has killed three passengers will be permitted to sail to Spain’s Canary Islands, the Spanish government has confirmed.
The MV Hondius, which has been anchored off the West African coast near Cape Verde, will continue its voyage to either Las Palmas or Tenerife after authorities in the West African nation refused to allow the vessel to dock at the port of Praia. The ship had been at sea for around a month after departing from Argentina, and is now stranded in the Atlantic with nearly 150 people on board.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 147 people are aboard the vessel, comprising 88 passengers and 59 crew. The passengers come from 23 different countries, including 17 Americans, the cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions has said.
Spain’s Ministry of Health initially took a more cautious approach than the WHO. After meetings between the Spanish government, the Canarian government and the global health body, ministers in Madrid said there would be “no clinical reason to make a stop in the Canary Islands, unless new symptomatic cases appeared during the journey between Cape Verde and the Canary Islands.” A team of Spanish epidemiologists is being sent to the ship to assess those on board and identify any further cases or high-risk contacts.
CBS News reported that Spain has since agreed the vessel can sail to the archipelago for what officials described as a “full investigation” and “full disinfection.”
The Hondius set off from the Argentine port of Ushuaia on 1 April for an Atlantic Odyssey voyage that took in mainland Antarctica and the remote South Atlantic islands of Tristan da Cunha and St Helena. Passengers and crew began to fall ill between 6 and 28 April, the WHO said, with symptoms including fever, gastrointestinal problems and the rapid onset of pneumonia, acute respiratory distress and shock.
Two of those who died were a married Dutch couple. NBC News reported that the 70-year-old husband died on board on 11 April and was declared dead on arrival at St Helena on 24 April. His 69-year-old wife later collapsed at Johannesburg’s international airport while attempting to fly home to the Netherlands.
A British national remains in a critical condition in an intensive care unit in Johannesburg after being evacuated from Ascension Island, according to South Africa’s health ministry. Two further crew members on board, one British and one Dutch, are described as being in need of urgent medical care. The Dutch government is coordinating their evacuation, which involves specialist aircraft, and the ship is unable to move until they have been airlifted away.
Hantavirus is rare in humans and is typically transmitted through contact with rodents, their droppings, urine or saliva. There is no specific treatment or cure, although early medical attention can improve a patient’s chances of survival. When humans are infected, mortality rates can reach as high as 50 per cent, according to figures cited by CBS News.
The WHO has indicated that human-to-human transmission may have occurred on board the Hondius, raising the possibility that the Andes strain — one of the few hantaviruses known to be capable of person-to-person spread — is involved. Despite this, the organisation has stressed that the broader risk to the public remains low.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters that planning for the medical evacuation was already under way and that discussions with Spanish authorities were ongoing. “The plan is to medevac those two individuals. That’s in the works; that’s underway. The plan is for the ship to continue to the Canary Islands. We’re speaking to the Spanish authorities,” she said.
Officials in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province, where the cruise began, have said no passengers were displaying hantavirus symptoms when the ship departed. However, the disease has an incubation period of up to eight weeks, meaning passengers could have been infected before boarding. The Associated Press reported that the province has not historically recorded hantavirus cases, although other parts of Argentina saw 28 deaths from the virus last year.
Oceanwide Expeditions, which markets the Hondius for 33-night and 43-night Atlantic Odyssey cruises, said the remaining passengers were following strict precautionary measures including isolation and medical monitoring. The vessel has 80 cabins, a maximum capacity of 170 passengers and typically carries around 70 crew members, including a doctor.
The case has drawn international attention because of the rarity of large-scale hantavirus outbreaks at sea. A US State Department spokesperson said on Monday that Washington was monitoring the situation closely and stood “ready to provide consular assistance” to American citizens on board.
