Hantavirus outbreak on Dutch cruise ship off Cape Verde kills 3

A Dutch cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people, including 17 Americans, remains stranded off the coast of Cape Verde following a suspected hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives and left several others seriously ill, according to the World Health Organization and the ship’s operator.

The MV Hondius, operated by Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions, has been unable to disembark passengers and crew since requesting assistance from Cape Verde health authorities on Sunday. The vessel had been on an extended polar cruise that began in Argentina and included stops in Antarctica and several remote South Atlantic islands.

According to company officials, the ship is carrying 88 passengers and 61 crew members. Among the passengers are 17 Americans, 19 British nationals, and 13 Spaniards, alongside other nationalities. The outbreak has particularly affected Dutch and German travelers.

The first casualty was a 70-year-old Dutch man who developed fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea before dying aboard the ship on April 11. His body was later removed at Saint Helena, a British territory approximately 1,200 miles off the African coast. His 69-year-old wife was transferred to South Africa but collapsed at Johannesburg’s airport and later died at a nearby hospital.

The ship continued to Ascension Island, where a critically ill British passenger was evacuated to South Africa on April 27. This patient subsequently tested positive for hantavirus and remains in isolation in intensive care. A third passenger, identified as a German national, died aboard the vessel on Saturday, with the body still onboard.

While only one case has been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus, WHO officials indicated that the other five cases are suspected to be caused by the same pathogen. The cruise operator emphasized that definitive confirmation of hantavirus in the three deaths is still pending.

Oceanwide Expeditions reported that two crew members—one British and one Dutch—currently require urgent medical attention. The company continues to await permission from Cape Verde authorities to evacuate passengers and crew. If permission is not granted soon, the operator is considering redirecting the ship to the Spanish islands of Las Palmas or Tenerife.

“Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations,” the WHO stated. “Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew. Sequencing of the virus is also underway.”

Hantaviruses are a family of pathogens primarily transmitted through contact with infected rodent urine or feces. They gained public attention last year when actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico. The viruses can cause two serious syndromes: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome affecting the lungs, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome affecting the kidneys.

“While severe in some cases, it is not easily transmitted between people,” said Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. “The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”

The cruise originated in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, for what was likely one of Oceanwide Expeditions’ “Atlantic Odyssey” cruises—extended voyages of 33 or 43 nights that include stops in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia, before traveling north through the Atlantic. The Hondius is a 107-meter vessel with a capacity for 170 passengers and typically carries about 70 crew members, including a ship’s doctor.

While authorities have not identified the source of the outbreak, southern Argentina experienced a deadly hantavirus outbreak in 2019 that killed at least nine people and led to a 30-day quarantine in one remote town.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases is conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg region to identify if others were exposed to the infected passengers. Health officials there have emphasized that there is no reason for public alarm, and the WHO is coordinating an international response among affected territories and nations to prevent further spread.