By Desmond Nleya
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reassured the public that the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius does not signal the start of a global pandemic, despite confirmed human-to-human transmission and multiple deaths linked to the virus.
Speaking during a media briefing on Thursday, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said the outbreak differs significantly from Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads only through “close, intimate contact” rather than easily through the air.
Health officials across several countries are now tracing passengers and crew who recently disembarked from the luxury expedition vessel, which has been travelling across the South Atlantic since departing Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1.
According to the WHO, five out of eight suspected hantavirus cases have so far been confirmed. Three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman who tested positive for the virus. Her husband, also Dutch, and a German woman later died under investigation for possible infection.
The WHO noted that hantavirus is traditionally spread through contact with infected rodents, but said the latest outbreak marks the first documented evidence of transmission between humans.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization currently assesses the overall public health risk as “low.”
He explained that the first confirmed patients had participated in a bird-watching tour through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, including visits to areas inhabited by rodents known to carry the virus.
Authorities warned that additional infections could still emerge because hantavirus has an incubation period of up to six weeks.
The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, confirmed that 29 passengers from at least 12 countries disembarked on the remote island of Saint Helena on April 24. Seven of them were British nationals.
The UK Health Security Agency said two British passengers are currently self-isolating in the United Kingdom while contact tracing continues for others who travelled onward from the island.
Spanish authorities also confirmed preparations for the ship’s arrival in the Canary Islands, where British and American citizens may be repatriated on special flights coordinated by their governments.
The Dutch government revealed that the infected Dutch woman travelled from St Helena to Johannesburg, where she later died. Before falling seriously ill, she had boarded a KLM flight bound for the Netherlands. Dutch authorities are now monitoring passengers who were on that flight.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s health authorities are isolating and testing two men who were on the same flight from St Helena to Johannesburg as the deceased woman.
In the United States, officials in the states of Georgia and Arizona confirmed that three returning passengers are under observation, although none have shown symptoms.
Argentina’s Health Ministry announced plans to test rodent populations in Ushuaia as investigations continue into the source of the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius.
