Hantavirus-hit Cruise Ship: Birdwatching Trip In Argentina Linked To Outbreak?

In the most alarming development yet, the hantavirus-stricken Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius has now departed Cape Verde and is heading for Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, even as the regional president Fernando Clavijo flatly refused to receive the vessel, warning it would endanger island residents. The WHO fired back, stating that Spain holds "a moral and legal obligation " to assist those on board, including several Spanish citizens.

The birdwatching theory solidified. Argentine officials anonymously confirmed to the Associated Press that the leading hypothesis is that the Dutch couple, the index cases, contracted the deadly Andes strain of hantavirus during a birdwatching tour in Ushuaia, where they may have been exposed to infected rodents at a landfill , but this link remains a working hypothesis rather than a confirmed source.

The Andes virus has previously been linked to severe outbreaks in South America , including a 2018–19 episode in Argentina that resulted in 11 deaths. Authorities suspect the same strain may be involved in the MV Hondius cases, though genetic confirmation is still pending.

Regarding the approximately 40 passengers who disembarked at Saint Helena , the Swiss government confirmed today that a man being treated at University Hospital Zurich was among those who disembarked on 26 April, bringing the total case count to eight . Three of those cases are laboratory-confirmed, five are suspected, and three people have died .

As for British nationals , a British passenger evacuated to Johannesburg after falling gravely ill with pneumonia and high fever remains in intensive care, though his condition is described as improving . Three more passengers were medically evacuated Wednesday, with two landing in Amsterdam under specialist care.

WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove stressed that unlike Covid-19 or influenza, hantavirus spreads person-to-person only through prolonged, close contact such as sharing a bed or food and the overall risk to the global public remains low .