Three Dead Aboard Cruise Ship After Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak

Three people are dead aboard a cruise ship and three other passengers are in critical condition amid a hantavirus outbreak onboard.

The orthohantavirus, also referred to as the hantavirus, is a virus found in rodents all over the world, with different strains across all six habitable continents. Symptoms begin several weeks after contracting the virus, with fever, fatigue, and acute muscle pain setting in. Within a few days of the symptoms beginning, the virus progresses rapidly, particularly impacting certain organs based on the strain.

In the Americas, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a common result of leaving the virus untreated, and directly leads to death– the lungs begin to fill with fluid, causing extreme coughing and shortness of breath. The mortality rate for HPS is incredibly high, ranging between 30% and 60%.

Across Europe and Asia, the virus can lead to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which causes fever, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, issues with blood clotting, and eventual kidney failure. The mortality rate for HFRS is much lower but still high, ranging between 1% and 15%.

The virus is transmitted through the inhalation of airborne particles from infected saliva, urine, and droppings, but it can also be transmitted by making contact with the aforementioned items and then touching the nose or the mouth.

However, the hantavirus rarely spreads from person-to-person; rather, in most cases where multiple contract the virus, they all come into contact with the initial airborne particles. Spreading between people has been recorded by scientists, but it is extremely rare and has only been found to occur with the Andes strain of the virus in South America.

Because of this, the outbreak aboard a cruise ship this week was found to be quite peculiar– though it proved to be deadly. The MV Hondius, a relatively small ship that holds around 170 passengers and 70 crew, was sailing from Argentina to South Africa when the passengers contracted the virus. Three of those infected, including an elderly couple from the Netherlands, passed away from the virus, while three others remain alive. One passenger is currently in intensive care at a local hospital in Cape Verde, and two crew members infected by the virus are still aboard the ship.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched an investigation into how the virus spread– it could have been a rare case of the Andes virus, but all six people also could have come into contact with the same contaminated particles.

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Image credit to AFP