It’s a worst-case scenario when embarking on a cruise: a virus outbreak. Currently, a vessel carrying around 150 passengers remains docked off the coast of West Africa as ill individuals continue to be evacuated. A suspected hantavirus outbreak has left three passengers dead, another in intensive care and more individuals falling sick.
Hantavirus is often transmitted via rat feces, saliva or urine, but rare variants can spread from human to human. Symptoms typically start one to eight weeks after exposure and mirror a flu-like illness; fever, muscle aches and fatigue. Within a few days, these symptoms can rapidly progress to shortness of breath and fluid buildup in the lungs. Hantavirus is typically found in South America where this ship departed from approximately three weeks ago.
It is unclear if the passengers were infected onboard or before the ship set sail, but eight individuals have now tested positive for hantavirus. Local officials are banning passengers from disembarking the ship as those who remain on the MV Hondius are under intense precautionary measures including isolation and hygiene protocols.
Given that the cruise went to many different islands, it’s increasingly difficult to determine the origin of the virus. At the moment, the theory is the virus originated from a bird-watching tour and tourists contracted the virus there before returning to the ship. One passenger got ill on April 6, died on April 11, got taken off the ship when it docked on April 24 and illnesses have continued since.
Contact tracing is underway to identify the origin of the Hantavirus and the goal is to get the passengers and the crew off the ship without potentially spreading the virus further. While there is no vaccine or specific cure for Hantavirus, it is curable through supportive medical care.
While many have expressed concern that this virus could spiral into a global COVID-like outbreak, the World Health Organization’s epidemic experts have stated that the risk to the public is low, and they are aware that that the virus is the Andes variant and are working to control the spread.
Hantavirus was in the news last year when it was revealed it was the cause of death for Betsy, Gene Hackman’s wife.
