A hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius killed 3 people and infected at least 8, with South African authorities confirming the cases were Andes strain infections, reports said. [1]
Investigators identified a 70-year-old Dutch ornithologist as the likely patient zero. He and his 69-year-old wife had spent months traveling in Uruguay, Chile and Argentina before boarding the ship on 1 April, according to the report. [1]
Authorities said the suspected infection route was exposure at a landfill near Ushuaia in southern Argentina, where contaminated rodent droppings or urine may have formed aerosolized particles that the victim inhaled. They also planned rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia as part of the epidemiological probe. [1]
The ship was allowed to dock at a Spanish island, and everyone on board was treated as a high-risk contact and placed under 42 days of active monitoring. The WHO described hantavirus as having limited person-to-person transmission, according to the report. [1]
One report said 17 U.S. citizens and one British national resident in the U.S. disembarked in Tenerife on Sunday, 10 May, and were flown back to the United States on a medical flight. [1]
France 24 published a video report on 13 May on how the suspected patient zero was infected, while the outbreak itself was described in one report as beginning on 11 April. [2, 1]
