Three people are dead and several others have been sickened in an apparent hantavirus outbreak on board a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The World Health Organization and South Africa’s Department of Health and Safety said a couple is among the dead, and at least three others have fallen ill, The Associated Press reported.
The first person who died was a 70-year-old man who died on the ship and whose body was taken off in Saint Helena. He had suffered fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea before his death, Foster Mohale, a health department spokesperson, said, according to The New York Times.
The man’s wife collapsed at a South African airport as she tried to fly home to the Netherlands. She died at a hospital, the AP reported.
The third person who died has not been identified, but their body remained on the vessel.
As for those who have become sick, one person, described as a British national, is in intensive care in Johannesburg after falling ill near Ascension Island. That person left the ship in Saint Helena and was transferred to South Africa, according to the AP.
Two crew members are also ill, but were still on the ship as of Sunday, with the company saying that they “require urgent medical care,” The New York Times reported.
“Local health authorities have visited the vessel to assess the condition of the two symptomatic individuals,” Oceanwide Expedition, which runs the cruise, said. “They are yet to make a decision regarding the transfer of these individuals into medical care in Cape Verde.”
The WHO is investigating and at least one case of hantavirus has been confirmed.
“WHO is aware of and supporting a public health event involving a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean,” the agency said. “Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also ongoing.”
Despite the WHO saying one of the deaths was confiremed to be from hantavirus, Oceanwide Expedition also said the causes of the deaths and illnesses was still under investigation.
“At this stage, it has not been established whether hantavirus is linked to the three deaths connected to this voyage,” the company said, according to the Times. “Hantavirus has not been confirmed in the two symptomatic individuals currently on board.”
The ship, MV Hondius, which was operated by a Dutch company, was off the coast of Cape Verde, off Africa’s west coast. It had left Argentina about three weeks ago on a trip that included Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and other stops before reaching its destination in the Canary Islands. No one on board the ship was allowed to disembark as it sits in Praia, CNN reported.
Hantavirus is a disease spread by rodents and is rare on a cruise ship.
University of Michigan Medical School assistant professor of medicine, Dr. Emily Abdoler, told the Times, “I don’t know of any other cases reported on a cruise ship before.”
She said the virus could have been spread by rodent droppings on the ship or at a location where it had docked. She also said that it could have spread among people.
“This is not a common infection, but it’s even less common to have the human spread raised as a possibility,” Abdoler told the newspaper. “Six people sick on a cruise ship — I’ve never heard of that from this kind of infection.”
The ship can hold up to 170 passengers and 71 crew, according to CNN.