A cruise ship dealing with a severe hantavirus outbreak made a stop in Santa Helena before being stranded off the coast of Cabo Verde in an attempt to limit the virus’s spread.
Officials from several nations are facing challenges in tracking down all passengers who left the vessel, sparking concerns about potential global transmission of the virus.
The MV Hondius, the vessel linked to the outbreak, is anticipated to arrive in the Canary Islands by Saturday. Upon arrival, Spanish nationals will be isolated in a military hospital, while other passengers will be sent back to their home countries.
Countries worldwide are urgently working to locate individuals who disembarked from the Atlantic cruise affected by the deadly virus before the ship was stranded off Cabo Verde, aiming to curtail the outbreak.
Last month, the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius resulted in the deaths of three individuals, including a Dutch couple and a German citizen.
According to the World Health Organization, eight additional individuals, including a Swiss national, are suspected of having contracted the virus.
The Dutch government reported on Wednesday that approximately 40 passengers had exited the ship in Santa Helena, located in the eastern Atlantic, prior to the outbreak being disclosed.
Among those who disembarked was the wife of a Dutch man who passed away on the ship on April 11. She subsequently fell ill and died before reaching the Netherlands.
KLM, the Dutch airline, announced on Wednesday that it had removed the woman from a flight in Johannesburg on April 25 due to a worsening health condition.
Typically, hantavirus is transmitted through contact with rodent droppings, urine, or saliva. However, the variant identified among the victims has been confirmed as the Andean strain, which can be transmitted between humans through close contact.
While experts indicate that human-to-human transmission is rare, the outbreak has prompted health officials to take precautionary measures.
In response to the situation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States reported on Wednesday that it is closely observing the situation regarding American travelers on the ship, asserting that the risk to the public remains extremely low.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted that one French individual had been in contact with an infected person but was not exhibiting any symptoms.
The MV Hondius, carrying nearly 150 individuals, is projected to dock in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands. Once there, if passengers are still in good health, non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated, while 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined in a military facility in Madrid.
On Wednesday, three patients were evacuated from the ship, with one admitted to a hospital in the Netherlands and another transferred to Germany for treatment.
The plane transporting the third patient was scheduled to arrive in the Netherlands early Thursday, though it faced delays due to an issue with the patient’s life support system, necessitating an emergency landing at Gran Canaria airport in Spain.
Meanwhile, in Argentina, the health ministry has announced plans to conduct rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia, the city from which the cruise ship set sail. Authorities and health experts are working to determine if this location is the origin of the outbreak, which has coincided with a rise in hantavirus cases in Argentina, a trend linked by many local public health researchers to the accelerating impacts of climate change.
Argentina, the departure point for the Antarctic cruise, has consistently been recognized by the World Health Organization as having the highest incidence of the rare rodent-borne disease in Latin America.
Experts assert that rising temperatures are expanding the virus’s range, as warmer conditions and changing ecosystems allow rodent populations that carry the hantavirus to thrive in new areas.
Hugo Pizzi, a well-known Argentine infectious disease expert, commented, “Argentina has become more tropical due to climate change, leading to disruptions such as dengue and yellow fever, as well as the introduction of new tropical plants that support mouse proliferation. There is no doubt that the hantavirus is spreading increasingly over time.”
On Tuesday, the Argentine Health Ministry reported a total of 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, which is roughly double the number of cases recorded during the same timeframe the previous year.
