Two Irish Passengers Aboard Cruise Ship Hit by Virus Outbreak

An unfolding health emergency aboard a cruise ship off Cape Verde has drawn international concern, with two Irish passengers among 149 people on board after a case of hantavirus was confirmed.

Oceanwide Expeditions, the vessel’s operator, said the MV Hondius is carrying 149 people from 23 nationalities and remains in what it described as “a serious medical situation”.

The company said strict precautions are being enforced on board, including isolation procedures, hygiene measures and ongoing medical monitoring.

A spokesperson for Oceanwide Expeditions told RTÉ News it is in talks with authorities in Cape Verde, but there is still no indication of when the ship may be cleared to dock or when passengers will be allowed to disembark.

One confirmed case of hantavirus involves a British passenger who is being treated in hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hantavirus is typically passed to humans from rodents and poses a low risk to the wider public, according to the head of the World Health Organization Europe.

Oceanwide Expeditions said there are 149 people on board MV Hondius, representing 23 different nationalities (File image)

“The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,” Hans Kluge said in a statement, adding that hantavirus infections are “uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents”.

The MV Hondius had been sailing from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde when a Dutch passenger died on board on 11 April. The cause of death could not be established on the vessel, and the body was taken ashore on St Helena on 24 April, accompanied by his wife.

The operator said it was informed on 24 April that the woman had also fallen ill and later died.

Three days later, another passenger — a British national — became seriously unwell and was medically evacuated to Johannesburg, where testing confirmed a variant of hantavirus.

A further passenger, a German national, died on board the ship on 2 May.

Oceanwide Expeditions said it has not yet been determined whether the virus was responsible for the three deaths.

“The exact cause and any possible connection are under investigation,” the company said.

Two crew members — one British and one Dutch — are also unwell with acute respiratory symptoms, though neither has so far tested positive for hantavirus.

Dutch authorities are now trying to bring those individuals home from the cruise ship.

“Dutch authorities have agreed to lead a joint effort to organise the repatriation of the two symptomatic individuals on board MV Hondius from Cape Verde to the Netherlands,” the operator said.

Read more: What is hantavirus and how deadly is it?

In a statement sent to AFP, the Dutch foreign ministry said it was “busy looking at the possibilities to medically evacuate a few people from the ship”.

“If this can take place, the ministry of foreign affairs will coordinate it,” a spokesperson said.

The ship remains off the coast of Cape Verde. Local doctors have gone aboard to assess the condition of the two ill passengers, but no authorisation has yet been granted to transfer them ashore.

“Disembarkation and medical screening of all passengers require coordination with local health authorities and we are in close consultation with them,” the operator said.

Yesterday, the WHO said one hantavirus case had been confirmed and that there were “five additional suspected cases.”

“While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response,” the WHO said.

Hantavirus ‘probably underdiagnosed’

Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Lancaster, said hantavirus is “incredibly rare and probably underdiagnosed”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, he said at least 38 recognised hantavirus species have been identified worldwide.

“It’s considered incredibly rare, although it’s probably underdiagnosed because we have to understand that not everybody who catches hantavirus will end up with symptoms, will end up with severe symptoms, or will end up with any at all,” he said.

“There is a huge spectrum of how hantavirus affects people across the world. We get typically about 150,000 200,000 cases reported a year, but there’s probably unreported or underreported or underdiagnosed cases, so there’s probably many more cases out there.”

Prof Taylor said there is no targeted cure for hantavirus.

“What we can do is manage the symptoms, depending on whether you’ve got a strain of virus that affects the kidneys or you’ve got a strain of virus that affects the heart and the lungs,” he said,

“A lot of that is treatment with fluids, ensuring that respiratory capacity is maintained.”

Prof Taylor said the virus can be hard to trace because symptoms may take time to appear.

“It’s usually two to three weeks, but it can be one and a half months before people display symptoms,” he said.

“Often they forget where or they won’t recall where they’ve been exposed potentially to rodents or rodent nesting material or bedding material and therefore remember exactly where they may have picked up the virus.”