Three Passengers Die from Hantavirus Contracted in Argentina on MV Hondius Expedition Cruise

The MV Hondius remained anchored off the port of Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6 while three patients were evacuated for hantavirus treatment. Three passengers have died from the virus on the 353-foot Dutch vessel operated by Oceanwide Expeditions. Investigators believe the initial cases involved a Dutch couple who contracted hantavirus from rodents at a landfill during a bird-watching tour in Ushuaia, Argentina, in mid-March.

Argentine officials told the Associated Press that the 70-year-old Dutchman and his wife picked up the infection there before boarding the ship, which departed from an Argentine port on March 20 for a 35-day expedition. The man began feeling sick on April 6 with fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea. He died on April 11, though his death was not linked to hantavirus until weeks later.

His body remained onboard for the next two weeks, during which his wife became ill. On April 25 she flew with his body to South Africa and died in a Johannesburg hospital. Eight other passengers and crew members became sick with hantavirus over the almost two weeks following April 25.

A third passenger died onboard the MV Hondius by May 2. On May 6 three patients—a 56-year-old British national, a 41-year-old Dutch citizen, and a 65-year-old German—were evacuated from the ship. The three were taken to the Netherlands for medical care, the World Health Organization said.

The ship’s doctor, who was once in serious condition, was among those evacuated and has improved, Spain’s health ministry said. The patients were removed wearing head-to-toe protective gear on gurneys after crew members in hazmat suits left the port on an ambulance boat toward the vessel.

Fernando Clavijo, the incumbent president of the Canary Islands, told reporters on May 6 that his government has not received detailed information on the disembarkation process and raised fears that passengers could spread hantavirus to citizens.