Authorities are racing to track down nearly 40 cruise ship passengers potentially exposed in a deadly Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak after they left the vessel without full contact tracing and scattered across multiple countries.
Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, said Thursday that 29 passengers disembarked on April 24. Dutch officials, however, estimate the number could be closer to 40.
Those passengers, representing at least a dozen nationalities, returned home across Europe, Africa and other regions, complicating efforts to locate them. The company said the nationalities of two individuals remain unknown.
Health officials have already confirmed at least one case tied to the group. A passenger who returned to Switzerland tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus, a rare variant that can spread between people through close contact.
The outbreak has killed at least three people and sickened several others as the virus spread among passengers on board.
One of the first victims, a Dutch man, died April 11. His body was removed from the ship when it reached the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. His wife also disembarked there and later traveled to South Africa, where she collapsed and died at the Johannesburg airport.
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Argentine officials told The Associated Press that the leading hypothesis is the couple may have been exposed before boarding, possibly after encountering infected rodents at a landfill during a bird-watching tour in Ushuaia.
Hantavirus typically spreads through contact with infected rodent droppings, often when contaminated particles are inhaled. The World Health Organization has said human-to-human transmission is uncommon but possible, particularly with the Andes strain.
As conditions worsened on board, additional medical evacuations followed. A British passenger was flown to South Africa from Ascension Island, while three others, including the ship’s doctor, were airlifted to Europe for treatment as the vessel drifted near Cape Verde.
With potentially exposed passengers now spread across continents and only partial records of their movements, health officials in South Africa and across Europe are working to retrace travel paths and identify anyone who may have been exposed.
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