Approximately 200 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are reported annually, mainly in North and South America.
An outbreak of acute respiratory syndrome occurred aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was traveling from Ushuaia (Argentina) to Cape Verde, resulting in the deaths of three passengers, reports International French Radio.
"WHO is aware of cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome on a cruise ship in the Atlantic. Investigations and a coordinated international public health response are underway," said the World Health Organization in Geneva.
"At this time, one case of hantavirus infection has been confirmed in the laboratory, and five others are suspected. Of the six affected, three have died, and one is in intensive care in South Africa," the organization clarified to AFP.
The first symptoms were exhibited by a 70-year-old passenger. He died on board, and his body is currently on Saint Helena Island—a British territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
His wife, 69, also fell ill on board and was evacuated to South Africa, where she subsequently died in a hospital in Johannesburg. The nationalities of the deceased are not specified.
Another case—a 69-year-old British man—was also evacuated to the economic capital of South Africa, where he is being treated in the intensive care unit and has tested positive for hantavirus—a group of pathogens capable of causing viral hemorrhagic fevers and primarily transmitted to humans through infected rodents.
The MV Hondius is mentioned on travel agency websites, particularly in Argentina and the UK. Some of them offer a cruise departing from Ushuaia to Cape Verde with stops at South Georgia and Saint Helena islands. According to vessel tracking websites, on Sunday, the MV Hondius was at the port of Praia—the capital of Cape Verde. The ship is designed for approximately 170 passengers and about 70 crew members.
Hantaviruses are diseases transmitted to humans from rodents. When humans are infected, hantaviruses can cause infections of varying severity, sometimes fatal. Hantaviruses are classified as pathogens capable of causing respiratory and cardiac failure, as well as hemorrhagic fevers. In the absence of vaccines and specific medications, treatment is limited to alleviating symptoms.
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