By Abdulsamad Abdulmalik
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that additional cases of hantavirus may still emerge following an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has already claimed three lives.
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said five confirmed and three suspected cases had so far been linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius, a cruise vessel operated by Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions.
The outbreak has been traced to the rare Andes strain of hantavirus, one of the few variants known to spread from person to person.
“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” Tedros said.
Shortly after the WHO briefing, Dutch health authorities confirmed that another passenger who disembarked from the vessel had tested positive for the virus.
Despite growing concern, WHO officials stressed that the outbreak does not pose a pandemic-level threat.
“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic. This is not Covid,” said WHO Director for Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, Maria Van Kerkhove.
WHO Emergency Alert and Response Director, Abdi Rahman Mahamud, said the situation could remain contained if countries continue to implement public health measures effectively.
“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries,” he said.
Health authorities are currently monitoring confirmed and suspected cases in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.
Hantavirus is a rare infection usually transmitted through contact with infected rodents. It can cause severe respiratory illness, heart complications and, in some cases, haemorrhagic fever. There is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the disease.
Investigators believe the outbreak began after one passenger contracted the virus in Argentina before boarding the ship and later transmitted it to others during the Atlantic voyage.
Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed that three passengers had already been evacuated from the vessel, while another patient arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday for treatment.
The company added that no symptomatic passengers currently remain onboard as the ship continues its journey toward Tenerife, Spain.
The UK Health Security Agency also disclosed that two passengers who returned to Britain from the cruise had been advised to self-isolate, although neither has shown symptoms.
Authorities in Argentina have launched investigations into the possible source of the infection, with plans to test rodents in Ushuaia, the city where the cruise departed on April 1.
According to reports, the first victim was a Dutch passenger who died onboard on April 11. His body was removed from the ship on April 24 at Saint Helena Island, where 29 passengers disembarked.
WHO said 12 countries had been notified after their nationals left the ship at Saint Helena.
The passenger’s wife later died in South Africa on May 4 after reportedly developing symptoms linked to hantavirus infection.
South African authorities are now tracing passengers who travelled on the same commercial flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg while the woman was reportedly symptomatic.
Airlink, the airline involved, confirmed that the flight carried 82 passengers and six crew members.
A German passenger also reportedly died from the infection on May 2, while her body remains onboard the vessel.
