WHO cautions more hantavirus cases possible in ‘limited’ outbreak

The World Health Organization says that more hantavirus cases could emerge after the disease killed three passengers from a cruise ship, but it expected the outbreak to be limited if precautions were taken.

Another sick passenger from the MV Hondius landed in Europe earlier in the day, as the vessel headed to the Spanish Canary Islands and health officials scrambled to trace the outbreak of the potentially deadly human‑to‑human strain.

People thought or known to have contracted the virus are being treated or isolated in South Africa, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died, though health officials have played down fears of a wider global outbreak from the rat‑borne virus, which is less contagious than Covid‑19.

‘Under control’

US President Donald Trump says he had been briefed on the situation. "It's very much, we hope, under control," Trump tells reporters.

"It was the ship -- and I think we're going to make a full report about it tomorrow. We have a lot of great people studying it... It should be fine, we hope."

A Dutch couple who had travelled around South America before boarding the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1, were the first fatalities.

Argentine health authorities say they have not yet been able to establish where the outbreak began.

"With the information provided so far by the countries involved and participating national agencies, it is not possible to confirm the origin of the infection," the health ministry said after a meeting with authorities from all 24 Argentine provinces on Thursday.

Rare disease

Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers. There are no vaccines and no known cure.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths.

"Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.

The Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands later announced another patient had tested positive.

But the WHO's emergency alert and response director, Abdi Rahman Mahamud said he believed it would be "a limited outbreak" if "public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries."

Rodent tests

A passenger is thought to have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and infected others on board as it sailed across the Atlantic.

Officials in Argentina said they planned to test rodents in the coastal city of Ushuaia, from where the ship had set sail on April 1.

Three evacuees were whisked away from the ship on Wednesday when it anchored off Cape Verde and a fourth landed in Amsterdam on Thursday, according to the vessel's operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions.

The company said there were no symptomatic individuals on board as the ship sails toward the Spanish island of Tenerife, where it is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.

YouTuber Kasem Ibn Hattuta, a passenger aboard the Hondius, posted a video recounting how he learned of the first death around 12 days after the start of the trip.

"Most people on board are reacting very calmly to the situation, unlike what is being reported in the media," Hattuta said.