A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has killed three people and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday (May 3).
The outbreak occurred on the MV Hondius, travelling from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde. “To date, one case of hantavirus infection has been laboratory confirmed, and there are five additional suspected cases,” WHO told AFP.
“Of the six affected individuals, three have died, and one is currently in intensive care in South Africa.” Hantavirus is spread by contact with the urine or faeces of infected rodents like rats and mice. It can lead to serious respiratory illness, the WHO said.
The virus gained attention after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year. The MV Hondius had left Argentina around three weeks ago for a cruise that included visits to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other stops on the way to Spain’s Canary Islands on the other side of the Atlantic.