MV Hondius en route to Canaries after hantavirus outbreak, three repatriated to Europe

Passengers are scheduled for evacuation early next week. Oceanwide Expeditions, the cruise operator, announced on Thursday that no one on board is currently exhibiting symptoms. The ship is anticipated to reach the Canaries by midday Sunday, according to Marine Traffic.

Health authorities are investigating the outbreak's origin and identifying potential contact cases. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for hantavirus, which can be contracted through contact with rodents. The Andes strain, found in infected passengers, is the only one known for human-to-human transmission.

The World Health Organization WHO indicates the initial infection occurred before the expedition began on April 1, as the first deceased passenger, a 70-year-old Dutchman, showed symptoms by April 6. Anaïs Legand, a technical expert on viral hemorrhagic fevers at WHO, explained that the incubation period is typically one to six weeks, often around two to three weeks. She emphasized that the first infected person was likely exposed to the virus, probably from a rodent, before boarding the ship.

Three passengers have died since the cruise began, which sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Cape Verde: a Dutch septuagenarian, his wife, and a German woman. One man is hospitalized in Johannesburg, another in Zurich, Switzerland. Three individuals were evacuated from th