Three people died and several others fell ill aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, sparking a broad international public health response involving countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America.
The first alert came from the United Kingdom, which notified the outbreak to the WHO, in accordance with the International Health Regulations (IHR), after passengers on board the ship developed a serious respiratory illness during the voyage from Argentina to Cape Verde.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said eight cases had been reported so far, including five laboratory-confirmed infections and three suspected cases linked to rare Andean strain of hantavirus
Low risk to humans
Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses carried by rodents and are generally transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals or with their urine, saliva or feces (order WHO hantavirus fact sheet here).
The Andes strain, present in parts of Latin America, is the only known hantavirus capable of limited human-to-human transmission.
According to the WHO, transmission usually requires close, prolonged contactparticularly among household members, intimate partners or healthcare professionals.
“At this stage, the overall risk to public health remains low“, said Dr. Tedros.
WHO officials are clear that the outbreak is very different from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic that killed millions of people around the world.
“This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s acting director for epidemic and pandemic management.
“Hantaviruses have been around for a while. We know this virus. It does not spread the same way as coronaviruses.”
Ongoing investigation
The first known patient developed symptoms on April 6 and later died aboard the ship. His wife also became ill and died after being evacuated to South Africa, where laboratory tests confirmed a hantavirus infection.
Before boarding, the two men had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay to observe birds, including visiting sites where rodent species known to carry the virus are present.
Another passenger died on May 2, and although one man remains in intensive care in South Africa, the WHO said his condition was improving. Other patients were transferred to hospitals in the Netherlands for treatment.
The WHO said no passengers or crew currently remaining on board the ship are showing symptoms.
International effort
The outbreak triggered action under the International Health Regulations, the global framework designed to coordinate responses to cross-border health threats.
The WHO said it was working closely with the country’s authorities. Cape Verde, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, United Kingdom and Argentina, alongside the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Spain agreed to allow the ship to dock in the Canary Islands – an autonomous Spanish community – after Cabo Verde refused the request due to public health concerns.
Dr Tedros thanked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for what he called an act of “solidarity” and “moral duty”.
“The risk to the population of the Canary Islands is actually low.”
WHO initiative in Cape Verde
A WHO expert, Dutch doctors and a European disease specialist boarded the ship in Cape Verde earlier this week and are overseeing medical assessments and infection prevention measures during the voyage to Tenerife.
Talk to PK Press ClubWHO representative in Cape Verde, Ann Lindstrand, said the agency had supported local authorities since the outbreak response began.
“During the trip to the Canary Islands we were able to bring medical equipment, so If someone gets sick on the boat, there will be doctors and equipment to be able to take care of them during the trip.
She said that in coordination with WHO, national health authorities are contacting passengers who disembarked earlier to advise them to seek medical attention promptly if symptoms appear.
Passengers still on board have been asked to remain in their cabins while disinfection procedures are carried out. Anyone developing symptoms will be immediately isolated.
Misinformation on social media
- Hantaviruses are a group of viruses carried by rodents that can cause serious illness in humans.
- People usually become infected through contact with infected rodents or through their urine, feces, or saliva.
- Hantavirus infection can cause a variety of illnesses, including severe illness and death.
- In the Americas, hantaviruses can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a serious respiratory illness, with a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
- Andes virus, present in South America, is a currently known hantavirus for which limited human-to-human transmission between contacts has been documented.
- In Europe and Asia, hantaviruses cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
Faced with misinformation circulating on social networks, Dr Abdirahman Mahamud from the WHO Health Emergencies Program stressed that there is no sign this is the early stages of a pandemic.
The infection occurred in a contained environment involving prolonged close contact between passengers on board the ship, similar to a limited Andean hantavirus outbreak recorded in Argentina in 2018-2019. In this case, transmission was linked to a social gathering involving a symptomatic person and resulted in only a small number of cases.
Dr Mahamud said existing public health measures, including contact tracing, isolation and surveillance, are well understood and can effectively break transmission chains, making a large-scale outbreak unlikely.
Monitoring continues
The WHO warned that additional cases could still emerge due to the incubation period of Andean hantavirus. can last up to six weeks.
“Viruses don’t care about politics, they don’t care about borders,” Dr. Tedros said. “The best immunity we have is solidarity.”
