Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship heads to Canary Islands after 3 deaths

A cruise ship carrying roughly 150 passengers and crew is sailing toward Spain's Canary Islands after a hantavirus outbreak killed three people and infected eight, as international health authorities race to trace hundreds of contacts, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

The outbreak — caused by the Andes strain of hantavirus, one of the few variants capable of limited human-to-human transmission — has prompted the CDC to activate an incident management system, with 17 Americans still on board the vessel.

The MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Cape Verde and is expected to reach Tenerife in about 3.5 days. Of the eight cases — three confirmed, five suspected — three people have died, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Victims have been identified in South Africa, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States.

Investigators believe a Dutch couple may have contracted the virus before boarding, during a bird-watching tour near Ushuaia, Argentina, where they were potentially exposed to infected rodents at a landfill. The Andes strain, unlike most hantavirus variants, can spread between close contacts such as married couples. "The beautiful journey they experienced together was abruptly and permanently cut short," the couple's family said in a statement released through Namens de Familie.

Three patients were evacuated from the vessel and transported to medical facilities in Amsterdam and Gran Canaria. A Spanish Ministry of Health source said one patient at Gran Canaria Airport "does not pose a risk to public health and will remain on the runway until the situation is resolved." Upon arrival in Tenerife, 14 Spanish passengers are to be transferred to a military hospital.

The World Health Organization said the outbreak does not pose a broader public health threat. "This is not a virus that spreads like flu or like COVID. It's quite different," said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Director for Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness. "The risk to the general public is low," she said.

Authorities are tracing 88 people — 82 passengers and six crew members — who flew on an April 25 Airlink flight from Cape Verde to Johannesburg alongside a Dutch woman who later died. "At the time when the flight was operated Airlink was unaware that any of the passengers were unwell," the airline said. Two Georgia residents who returned from the ship are under monitoring but remain asymptomatic. A former CDC official told ABC7 that "Department of State has the lead, but CDC has the technical responsibility" in coordinating the U.S. response.

The office of Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, questioned the decision to route the vessel to the islands. His office said the president is "seeking clarification why the vessel is heading for the Canaries, when people could be repatriated from Cape Verde and not be left a further number of days on the ship."

A British national who left the ship independently was advised by UK health authorities to self-isolate. Health officials in Spain, South Africa, Switzerland and the Netherlands are coordinating with the WHO on the multi-country response to what the WHO has characterized as a contained, low-risk outbreak.