Three Dead, Three ill in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Atlantic Cruise Ship

Three passengers have died and three others remain ill in a suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina three weeks ago with approximately 150 passengers and traveled through Antarctica, the Falklands, and multiple remote Atlantic islands. One case in a U.K. passenger has been confirmed for hantavirus, which typically spreads through rodent contact and kills more than a third of U.S. patients when it causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The ship remains stranded off Cape Verde after authorities assessed but denied disembarkation, while the World Health Organization coordinates evacuation of two symptomatic crew members and one patient remains in intensive care in South Africa. The outbreak is particularly unusual given that hantavirus rarely spreads person-to-person and is not typically associated with maritime settings.

Suspected hantavirus outbreak and casualties on cruise ship

• ▪A 69-year-old woman collapsed at Johannesburg's international airport while attempting to fly to the Netherlands and died at a health facility.
• ▪Hantavirus was confirmed in one case involving a passenger from the U.K. who became ill while the cruise ship was traveling from St. Helena to Ascension Island.
• ▪A 70-year-old man was declared dead on arrival in St. Helena during the cruise ship outbreak.
• ▪One of the three sickened individuals is in intensive care in South Africa.
• ▪Three passengers died amid a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
• ▪The 70-year-old man and 69-year-old woman who died were a married couple from the Netherlands.

Ship's route and current status off Cape Verde

• ▪The cruise ship Hondius remains off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.

Hantavirus transmission, symptoms, and health risks

• ▪Betsy Arakawa, the wife of actor Gene Hackman, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in February 2025.
• ▪Gene Hackman died from heart disease and Alzheimer's disease, likely about a week after his wife Betsy Arakawa.
• ▪Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa's bodies were found in their home in New Mexico.

Perspective of Oceanwide Expeditions

• ▪Oceanwide Expeditions is working with the World Health Organization to evacuate symptomatic crew members from the MV Hondius.

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