Officials race to trace passengers who left hantavirus-hit cruise
AMSTERDAM - Efforts to contain a hantavirus outbreak linked to an Atlantic cruise have been complicated by the news that 29 passengers disembarked on the remote British island of St. Helena on April 24, about 10 days before the first case was confirmed.
Operators Oceanwide Expeditions on Thursday listed passengers from at least 12 different countries, including seven Brits, six Americans and three Dutch citizens.
The body of a Dutchman - the first fatality in the outbreak - was also taken off the ship in St. Helena, it said in a statement.
"These disembarked guests have all been contacted by Oceanwide Expeditions," the operator said.
Three people have died linked to the outbreak on the Dutch-flagged Hondius, a small cruise ship with under 150 people on board that set off from southern Argentina on April 1.
The WHO said on Thursday that five hantavirus cases have now been confirmed aboard the vessel, including the three deaths.
"So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a pres conference in Geneva. "Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus, while the remaining three are suspected."
"While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low," Tedros said.
He added that the cases involve the Andes strain, found in Latin America and the only hantavirus known to allow limited human-to-human transmission.
Tedros said 12 countries have been notified about potentially exposed nationals who disembarked in St. Helena, while health authorities in South Africa are tracing contacts from a commercial flight linked to one of the fatal cases.
Ship heading towards Tenerife
The Hondius was anchored off the shore of Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast, for several days as news of the hantavirus outbreak emerged and is currently en route to Spain's Canary Islands.
The Dutch-flagged cruise liner is set to dock in Tenerife on Sunday, where all aboard are to be examined and tested before they can return home.
Spain has said it is planning to isolate returning citizens at a hospital in Madrid, as PCR tests used to detect hantavirus are not 100% reliable, with quarantine and monitoring of symptoms considered to be the best way to prevent transmission.
"We are confident in the capacity of Spain to manage this risk, and we are supporting them to do so," Tedros said in the Geneva media briefing.
None of the remaining passengers and crew members currently display any symptoms, according to the operator, with two Dutch doctors specializing in infectious diseases and two epidemiologists providing care aboard the ship.
The WHO has also deployed one of its experts to the vessel to conduct medical assessments during its journey.
Tedros said that morale on board had "improved significantly" after the ship left Cape Verde, citing updates from the captain.
The WHO has advised the ship's operator on onboard health measures, with passengers confined to their cabins, enhanced disinfection under way, and anyone showing symptoms to be isolated immediately, according to Tedros.
Flight attendant hospitalized after exposure
A Dutch man and a German woman died aboard the ship on April 11 and May 2 respectively, before the first confirmed case of hantavirus linked to the cruise was reported on May 4, according to the operator.
The Dutch man's 69-year-old wife disembarked alongside other passengers in St. Helena and attempted to return to the Netherlands before she died in hospital in South Africa.
A flight attendant who briefly came into contact with the Dutch woman has been admitted to hospital in Amsterdam, the Dutch Health Ministry said on Thursday.
The attendant is showing light symptoms and has been isolated from other patients at the clinic, where she is being tested for hantavirus, the ministry said.
The Dutch woman boarded a KLM flight in Johannesburg on April 25, but was removed from the flight ahead of departure due to her bad state of health, according to the airline. She died a day later in hospital in Johannesburg.
The flight attendant was on board the flight that traveled on to the Amsterdam after the woman left the aircraft.
Dutch authorities have said they are in contact with all passengers aboard the plane, who are being tested regularly.
Three people were evacuated from the cruise ship on Wednesday, including two ill crew members - a 56-year-old British man and a 41-year-old Dutch man - as well as a 65-year-old German woman, a passenger.
A first evacuation plane carrying two of them landed in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening, while the second flight had to make a landing on the Canary Islands due to technical issues and was only able to resume the journey to the Netherlands early on Thursday.
The German woman has been brought to a clinic in Dusseldorf. She is not showing symptoms but had been in close contact with the German woman who died aboard the Hondius.
One passenger of the cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus following his return to Switzerland, where he is being treated at the Zurich University Hospital.
Meanwhile, two people who returned to the UK from the Hondius are also self-isolating.
Hantavirus can cause fever and severe respiratory illness in humans, with infection typically occurring through exposure to the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents.
Researchers in Argentina are working to uncover the source of the outbreak, believed to have originated in the southernmost region of Ushuaia, where the Hondius set sail on April 1.
The plan is to capture and test local rodents, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Dutch couple that died from hantavirus had been traveling in the region since last year before boarding the ship, according to the government.
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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 10:22 PM.