Deadly hantavirus outbreak strikes luxury cruise. What you should know about the disease
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A suspected outbreak of hantavirus, a rare but deadly disease that attacks the lungs, has left three people dead and several others severely ill aboard a luxury cruise ship.Here’s what we know about the voyage and the virus that also made headlines last year after it killed Gene Hackman’s 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa.
Global health officials and the cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, are investigating and working to contain the illnesses suspected to have been brought on by the rodent-borne illness aboard the MV Hondius — a Dutch-flagged ship, according to the World Health Organization.On Monday, the WHO announced that the luxury ship carrying 147 passengers and crew had two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases of hantavirus.
The three deaths are included in that total.World & Nation The MV Hondius, which was on a weeks-long polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and several islands in the South Atlantic, requested help after making its way to the island of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa.The cruise ship, which was on a 46-day journey that traveled from Antarctica with stops in Argentina, has remained off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.
During a press conference, WHO officials said they’re planning to medically evacuate two individuals with suspected infections.The vessel departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and traveled across the Atlantic with multiple stops in remote and ecological diverse regions, according to the WHO.
“The extent of passenger contact with local wildlife during the voyage, or prior to boarding in Ushuaia, remains undetermined,” the organization said in a statement.Typically, hantavirus spreads by inhaling particles contaminated with the urine, feces or saliva of wild rodents.
“What we don’t know about this current outbreak is whether someone got onto the ship and was already sick or t...