A cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak is expected to reach the Canary Islands in three to four days, after two critically ill crew members are evacuated from the vessel via Cape Verde to the Netherlands.
The operator of the MV Hondius said the transfer plan would allow the ship to continue its journey north once the evacuations were complete. Spain’s health ministry said passengers and crew would be examined and then transferred to their respective countries when the ship arrived.
The outbreak has already killed three people and left others sick on board, prompting a quarantine off the Cape Verde capital, Praia. The World Health Organization said the ship had 88 passengers and 59 crew members on board, representing 23 nationalities.
Health authorities began monitoring the vessel after the WHO was informed on Saturday that hantavirus was suspected in the deaths of three passengers. The virus is usually spread by infected rodents through urine, droppings and saliva, and can be fatal.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch operator of the MV Hondius, said on Tuesday that two ill crew members would be flown to the Netherlands for urgent medical care. It also planned to evacuate a third person who had been in close contact with a German passenger who died on Saturday.
The ship has remained anchored off Praia while authorities dealt with the outbreak. Cape Verde officials barred it from docking as passengers and crew were kept in isolation.
Ann Lindstrand, the WHO’s representative in Cape Verde, said the vessel could resume its route once the evacuation was complete.
“can continue its route”, said Ann Lindstrand, WHO’s representative in Cape Verde.
The health ministry in Spain said the Canary Islands were the nearest place with the medical capabilities needed to handle the situation. It said the ship was due there in “three to four days” but did not name the exact port.
Oceanwide Expeditions said the ship was expected to sail to either Gran Canaria or Tenerife and that the voyage would take around three days.
The outbreak has drawn international attention because hantavirus is uncommon and can be difficult to diagnose. The WHO said two cases had been confirmed, including one of the fatalities and a British passenger receiving intensive care in Johannesburg, with five further suspected cases.
Three of those seven people have died. One was a Dutch woman who left the ship at Saint Helena and later died in Johannesburg after falling ill during a flight from the island.
The first fatality was a Dutch man who died on April 11. The WHO said his wife later died after disembarking in Saint Helena to accompany his body, and that she became ill during a flight to Johannesburg on April 25 before dying the next day.
Officials are now trying to trace passengers from that flight. South African-based carrier Airlink said it carried 82 passengers and six crew, and authorities have asked the airline to tell them to contact the health department.
The source of the infection remains unclear. WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness director Maria Van Kerkhove said the agency still had not confirmed the virus species, although it was working on the assumption that it was the Andes virus.
Van Kerkhove said WHO had been told there were no rats on board the ship, and that researchers in South Africa were sequencing samples. She added that there may have been human-to-human transmission among very close contacts.
The WHO said the incubation period for hantavirus is usually between 1 and 6 weeks, which led it to believe the Dutch couple were infected before boarding the ship in South America. The MV Hondius had set off from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1, bound for Cape Verde.
The cruise has become one of the latest examples of how quickly a health scare at sea can disrupt travel across several countries. With the ship now close to the Canaries and medical evacuations under way, authorities are racing to limit any further spread and trace everyone who may have been exposed.
