Hantavirus at sea: The ship that no port will take

Picture Credit: by CBS News

A luxury cruise ship is at the centre of a growing international health crisis after a deadly Hantavirus outbreak left passengers stranded at sea, with three confirmed dead and governments refusing to let the vessel dock.

The MV Hondius, owned by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, on April 1, carrying 147 passengers and crew of 23 nationalities, bound for Antarctica and isolated South Atlantic islands. By early May, it had become the site of one of the most alarming maritime health emergencies in recent memory.

As of May 4, the WHO confirmed five cases, two laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infections and five suspected cases, including three deaths. Illness onset ranged from April 6 to April 28, beginning with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms before rapidly progressing to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and shock.

The strain has since been confirmed as the Andes virus, a South American variant and the only known hantavirus capable of human-to-human transmission, though this remains extremely rare. Investigators now believe the index case, a Dutch couple, may have contracted the virus during a four-month road trip through Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina before boarding.

Hantavirus is typically spread when dried rodent urine or droppings are disturbed and inhaled. It is not a new disease, a 2018 Argentine outbreak traced to a single party resulted in 34 confirmed cases and 11 deaths.

The diplomatic fallout has been swift. The Canary Islands president refused to allow the ship to dock, citing public safety concerns, despite Spain's central government indicating it would be permitted to do so. The WHO responded by stating that Spain has a "moral and legal obligation" to assist those on board.

The WHO's director-general assessed the risk to the broader public as "low," noting that human-to-human transmission requires prolonged and very close contact. Evacuation of remaining passengers is expected to begin in Tenerife from May 11.

The world is watching closely.