South African Lab Identifies Hantavirus on Cruise Ship in 24 Hours

South African infectious disease specialist Lucille Blumberg received an email on May 1 about an elderly British passenger evacuated from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius to a Johannesburg hospital with suspected pneumonia. Blumberg and colleagues at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases initially tested for Legionella and influenza, both common on cruise ships, but results were negative.

The team then considered the ship’s recent stops in Argentina and passengers’ exposure to rodents, prompting tests for hantavirus. Blood samples tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus on the afternoon of May 2. A second test confirmed the result.

A posthumous test on a Dutch woman who died after disembarking in St. Helena also returned positive for hantavirus. The World Health Organization notified the ship of the outbreak. The vessel later docked in Rotterdam, where it was disinfected and remaining crew members left. The British patient is reported to be improving in hospital, according to South Africa’s health ministry.