Footage has emerged showing the moment a cruise ship captain announced the death of the first passenger killed by a rodent-borne virus onboard. At the time, the cause of death was unknown, but two others would later die from hantavirus, and a man is now fighting for life as other seriously ill passengers are evacuated from the MV Hondius.
Captain's Announcement
“One of our passengers suddenly passed away last night — tragic as it was due to natural causes, we believe,” the captain said on April 11. “Whatever health issue he was struggling with, I’m told by the doctor, was not infectious. So, the ship is safe when it comes to that.”
The 70-year-old Dutch man had fallen ill with fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea days before his death, according to South Africa’s Health Department and the World Health Organisation.
Outbreak Unfolds
Since then, the situation onboard the MV Hondius has become clear. Contact tracing efforts are underway as the nearly 150 people on board, including several Australians, head to Spain’s Canary Islands, where it is unclear if they will be allowed to dock.
The Spanish health ministry said it had agreed, in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles, to a request from WHO and the European Union to allow the Hondius to dock in Spain. However, the Spanish archipelago’s leader, Fernando Clavijo, said he opposed the move and requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The Dutch man’s body was taken offboard in St Helena, a remote British Overseas Territory, on Monday last week, according to ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions.
Wife Also Dies
His wife, also Dutch, got off the ship for the repatriation of her husband’s body but “Oceanwide Expeditions was informed the wife had become unwell during the return journey and had later died,” the operator said.
Just over a week later, a German woman also died onboard.
Acute Symptoms Spread
On the same day the Dutch woman died, a British person became seriously ill and was medically evacuated to South Africa. A variant of hantavirus has been identified in this patient, and he remains in a critical but stable condition.
The Dutch foreign ministry said another Dutch person and a German person have also been evacuated. It is understood two of these people, with acute respiratory symptoms, are crew members.
The Swiss government also confirmed a man who returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the Hondius was infected with hantavirus and was being treated in Zurich. It said there was no danger to the broader population.
There are reportedly no other symptomatic patients on board. A third suspected case who reported a mild fever at one point “is currently doing well”, the WHO official said. There are now eight suspected hantavirus cases linked to the cruise ship outbreak.
Australian Passenger Reportedly Returns Home
Spanish outlet El Pais has reported an Australian who was onboard the infected ship has returned home. The Australian was reportedly among 23 passengers who disembarked the cruise ship in St Helena.
A Spanish passenger still on the ship told the outlet the passengers were “wandering around” St Helena and had not been contacted by health officials for days. They named the Swiss passenger, currently hospitalised in Switzerland, as one of the many passengers who reportedly disembarked in St Helena.
Authorities in Switzerland confirmed they are carrying out contact tracing for a patient currently in hospital. His wife, who was also on the trip, is currently asymptomatic and self-isolating as a precaution, the Swiss health ministry said.
South Africa’s health ministry has identified 62 contacts including flight crew and healthcare workers, but none has been diagnosed with hantavirus so far.
7NEWS.com.au has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Department of Health for comment.
‘Low Risk’: How the Virus Spreads
People are usually infected by hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, or saliva. Human-to-human transmission is rare.
The strain of virus detected in cruise ship patients and crew is the Andes species. “Although uncommon, limited human to human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of Andes virus,” WHO said.
Since the start of the outbreak, WHO has said the risk to the wider public is low and stressed that this continued to be the case. But limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which has spread in South America, including Argentina, where the cruise trip started in March.
Argentine officials investigating the outbreak’s origins anonymously told The Associated Press the leading theory is that the couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching tour in the city of Ushuaia before boarding. They said the couple visited a landfill during the bird-watching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
The MV Hondius first left Ushuaia in Argentina over a month ago. “The extent of passenger contact with local wildlife during the voyage, or prior to boarding in Ushuaia remains undetermined,” WHO said.
On their voyage, passengers visited some of the world’s most remote islands, where they would have seen a lot of wildlife, including whales, dolphins, penguins, and seabirds, according to the trip’s itinerary.
Hantavirus typically incubates for one to six weeks before patients start presenting symptoms.
