Health
What is happening on the cruise ship that became the center of the spread of hantavirus infection?
PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) – Footage obtained by The Associated Press of the cruise ship at the center of a rare virus outbreak shows empty decks and gathering areas, medical teams in hazmat suits and a quiet scene ahead as the ship and about 150 passengers and crew wait for another day off the coast of West Africa.
An outbreak of hantavirus, which is usually spread by inhaling contaminated rodent feces, has killed three passengers and sickened at least four others, health officials said. The World Health Organization said the passengers were isolated in their cabins.
The company operating the ship, which is currently anchored in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Verde, said the three people were medically evacuated and planned to travel aboard a specially equipped plane to the Netherlands and then to Spain’s Canary Islands. Spanish officials said early Tuesday that they were monitoring the situation but had not made any decisions.
The Dutch ship MV Hondius set sail from Argentina on April 1st on a week-long polar cruise bound for Antarctica and several remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
“Our days are close to normal and we’re just waiting for the authorities to find a solution,” Qassem Elhat, 31, a passenger who sent video footage to The Associated Press, said on WhatsApp. “However, morale on board is high and we are keeping busy reading, watching movies and enjoying hot drinks.”
Another passenger, Helen Gessaert, told Belgian broadcaster VRT that all passengers were “literally on the same boat”.
“You don’t go on a trip thinking one of your passengers won’t make it,” she says.
“We receive information at regular intervals and it is accurate. For the rest, it is a waiting game,” she added. “Today we received fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, which was very important to us.”
Evacuation plan still unclear
Cape Verde authorities said they had sent a team of doctors, surgeons, nurses and laboratory experts to Hondius. Video footage from El Hat showed them wearing white overalls, boots and face masks alighting on a small boat.
Officials in Cape Verde’s capital Praia, a city with a population of less than 200,000, said they had increased security measures, especially near ports, as a precaution against rodent-borne diseases. The disease is not usually transmitted from person to person, but health officials say it is possible.
Elhat said passengers wore masks and practiced social distancing, which has become a hallmark of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said it had implemented the highest level of response, including quarantine measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.
Oceanwide Expeditions announced Tuesday night that two private planes were flying to Cape Verde to evacuate two people who needed emergency treatment and one person who was traveling with a German woman who died on the flight Saturday. They were to be taken to the Netherlands, but it was not immediately clear when that would be.
Once the medical evacuation is complete, the ship will sail to the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria or Tenerife for approximately three days, the company said in a statement, adding it was “in discussions with the relevant authorities.”
Spanish health authorities said in an earlier statement that they were monitoring and “the most appropriate port of call will be determined. Until then, the Ministry of Health will not adopt any decision, as we have informed the World Health Organization.”
WHO notes 7 total cases in latest update
The WHO announced on Tuesday that it was investigating a total of seven cases. Three people have died, one seriously ill passenger who had previously disembarked, and three people on board who are reporting mild symptoms.
Two of them, the woman who died and the man who was evacuated, tested positive for hantavirus.
According to South Africa’s Department of Health, a Dutch man became the first death on April 11. The bodies were removed from the ship nearly two weeks later in the British colony of St. Helena, about 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) off the coast of Africa.
His wife traveled by plane from St. Helena to South Africa. She collapsed at the Johannesburg airport and died in hospital on April 26, according to the WHO and South Africa’s Department of Health.
The ship headed some 800 miles (1,300 km) north to Ascension Island, an isolated Atlantic outpost, where a sick British man was removed from the ship and evacuated first to Ascension Island and then by plane to South Africa. He is in intensive care at a hospital in South Africa, the WHO said.
Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s head of epidemics and pandemic preparedness, said the agency was investigating the possibility of human-to-human transmission on the ship and that authorities suspected the first infected person likely contracted the virus before boarding the ship. He said officials have been told there are no rats on board.
Authorities in Argentina, where the hantavirus killed 28 people across the country last year, confirmed that none of the passengers had any symptoms when the Hondius departed, according to the Health Ministry. Officials say symptoms can appear up to eight weeks after exposure.
In South Africa, authorities announced they had begun contact tracing. This is also a technique widely used during the coronavirus pandemic. But officials stress that it is unlikely to pose a serious public health threat.
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A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the passenger who died on board Saturday as a German man. Corrected to reflect the death of a German woman.
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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Suman Naishadam in Madrid; Mogomotsi Magome, Johannesburg, South Africa. Mike Corder of The Hague. and Gail Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Copyright 2026 Associated Press. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
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