Apparent hantavirus outbreak kills 3 on cruise ship, sickens at least 3 more, health officials say

(CBS NEWS) — A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, according to health officials and the cruise operator. The ship was waiting for help Monday near Cape Verde, an island nation off Africa’s west coast, but local officials had not allowed anyone to disembark, the operator said.

At least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed through laboratory tests and an investigation was underway, the World Health Organization said in a statement. There were five more suspected cases, including one patient who was in intensive care in a South African hospital, according to the health agency, which said it was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship.

There was a possible new case on the ship, in a person showing mild fever symptoms, Dr. Ann Lindstrand, a WHO official in Cape Verde, told The Associated Press. No other details about that case were provided.

Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company that operates the ship, said the other two sick people on board were crew members who had respiratory symptoms and required urgent medical care. Cape Verde authorities were assisting even as they prohibited people from leaving the cruise, the company said.

“Local health authorities have visited the vessel to assess the condition of the two symptomatic individuals,” the company said. “They are yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde.”

Cape Verde has sent a medical team of two doctors, a nurse and a laboratory specialist to the ship over three trips, Lindstrand said. She said they were planning for medical evacuations, in which passengers would be taken from the ship via ambulance to an airport and flown out of Cape Verde. The Dutch Foreign Ministry said it was also looking into evacuating some people from the ship.

The WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, said in a statement Monday, “The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”

But Cape Verde’s Health Ministry said that, for now, the ship would not be allowed to dock on the island because of public health concerns and would remain in open waters close to shore.

Hantaviruses, which are found throughout the world, are a family of viruses spread mainly by contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents like rats and mice. They gained attention after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year.

Hackman died around a week later at their home from heart disease.

How hantaviruses can kill

Hantaviruses cause two serious syndromes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe disease that effects the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, a severe disease that affects the kidneys.

While rare, WHO said hantavirus infections can be spread between people. There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.

“WHO is aware of and supporting a public health event involving a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean,” the organization said. “Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”

South Africa’s Department of Health said the ship, the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, had left Argentina around three weeks ago for a cruise that included visits to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other stops. It was due to ultimately head to Spain’s Canary Islands.

The victims

The first victim was a 70-year-old man who died on the ship and whose body was removed in the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, the South African health department said in a statement. According to Oceanwide Expeditions, he died on April 11. His cause of death “could not be determined on board,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.

The man’s wife collapsed at an airport in South Africa trying to take a flight to her home country of the Netherlands, the department said. She died at a nearby hospital. Both the man and his wife were Dutch nationals, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

A third passenger on the cruise ship died on May 2, the company said. The body of that passenger, a German national, was still on the ship, the company said.

The South African health department identified the patient in intensive care in a hospital in Johannesburg as a British national. It said that person fell ill near Ascension Island, another remote island in the Atlantic, after the ship left Saint Helena, and was transferred from there to South Africa.

The person currently in intensive care so far has the only confirmed case of hantavirus linked to the cruise ship, said Oceanwide Expeditions.

There are currently 149 people on the ship, representing 23 different nationalities, as it remains off the coast of Cape Verde, according to the company. The people still on board include 88 passengers and 61 crew members, Oceanwide Expeditions said. Seventeen passengers are Americans.

Travel blogger Jake Rosmarin was among those who remained on the ship Monday, he said in a social media post. Rosmarin asked the public for “kindness and understanding,” in an emotional video.

“What’s happening right now is very real for all of us here. We’re not just a story. We’re not just headlines. We’re people. People with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home,” Rosmarin said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty, and that’s the hardest part. All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity, and to get home.”

Oceanwide Expeditions said “strict precautionary measures” are in place on board, including isolation and hygiene protocols, as well as medical monitoring.

WHO said it was working with local authorities and the ship’s operators to conduct a “full public health risk assessment” and provide support for those still on board.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, meanwhile, was conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg region to identify if other people were exposed to the infected passengers in South Africa.