An outbreak of severe acute respiratory illness has shaken a polar cruise ship traveling through the Atlantic Ocean, leaving at least two people confirmed dead and one patient in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa’s health ministry confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Sunday.
The incident unfolded aboard the MV Hondius, a polar exploration vessel operated by Dutch tour firm Oceanwide Expeditions, which was carrying out a voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina, bound for Cape Verde. The ship, which holds capacity for roughly 170 passengers and 70 crew members, was positioned just off Praia, Cape Verde’s capital, as of Sunday, according to multiple online vessel tracking platforms.
South African health department spokesperson Foster Mohale confirmed that one patient evacuated to Johannesburg for treatment has tested positive for hantavirus, a group of pathogens most commonly spread to humans via rodent populations. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected rodents’ urine, fecal matter or saliva, through bites, or via inhalation of dust contaminated with viral particles, guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes. Different strains of hantavirus circulate across different global regions, and they can trigger a range of severe symptoms including life-threatening hemorrhagic fever.
According to Mohale, the first fatality was a 70-year-old passenger who first developed symptoms and died while the vessel was still at sea. His remains are currently held on Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic that was one of the ship’s scheduled stops. The passenger’s 69-year-old spouse was also infected and evacuated to South Africa for urgent care, and she later died in a Johannesburg hospital. Mohale added that official confirmation of the victims’ nationalities was still pending as of Sunday, though an anonymous source close to the investigation told AFP the two deceased are a Dutch couple, bringing the provisional death toll to three.
A third infected passenger, a 69-year-old British national, was also evacuated to Johannesburg and remains in intensive care as public health teams continue to monitor his condition. Discussions are ongoing between international health authorities about whether two additional sick passengers should be admitted to hospitals in Cape Verde for isolation, the anonymous source said. After the ship completes its stop in Cape Verde, it is scheduled to continue its voyage to the Spanish Canary Islands.
The World Health Organization confirmed Sunday that it is aware of the outbreak, and that a coordinated international public health investigation and response is already underway. “We will share more information as it becomes available,” the organization said from its Geneva headquarters. AFP reached out to Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship’s operator, for comment on the outbreak as of Sunday, but had not received a response by the time of reporting.