Health officials track dozens who left hantavirus-stricken ship after 1st fatality

Key Points:

• Health authorities across four continents are tracking and monitoring passengers who disembarked a cruise ship infected with hantavirus before the outbreak was detected, with efforts focused on tracing contacts since April 24 when over two dozen people left the ship without contact tracing.
• Three passengers have died—two Dutch and one German—and several others are ill; symptoms of hantavirus typically appear one to eight weeks after exposure, but none of the remaining passengers or crew are currently symptomatic.
• The hantavirus identified is the Andes virus, known to spread between people and cause severe lung disease; investigations suggest the outbreak originated in southern Argentina, where a Dutch couple likely contracted the virus during a bird-watching trip before boarding the ship.
• Passengers who disembarked at St. Helena and traveled to various countries, including South Africa and Singapore, are being isolated and tested, while authorities in South Africa and the Netherlands are tracing contacts from flights linked to infected individuals.
• The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public low if public health measures are implemented and is supporting investigations with diagnostic kits and expert teams, while the ship continues to sail to the Canary Islands with over 140 passengers and crew still on board.