Governments in several countries are trying to locate people who left the cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak before it was quarantined off the coast of Cape Verde, in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease.
Three people—a Dutch couple and a German citizen—died in the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected of having contracted the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to Reuters, the Dutch government stated on Wednesday that about 40 passengers disembarked at the port of Saint Helena (a British overseas territory located in the middle of the South Atlantic), where the ship made a stop en route to Cape Verde, before the outbreak was reported. The whereabouts of many of these passengers remain unknown at this time.
Among those who disembarked is the wife of the Dutch citizen who died aboard the ship on April 11. The woman fell ill and eventually died before she could reach the Netherlands.
The Dutch airline KLM stated on Wednesday that it removed the woman from a flight in Johannesburg on April 25 due to the deterioration of her health.
The virus detected in the victims has been confirmed as the Andean strain, which can be transmitted between humans through very close contact. Experts emphasize that transmission is very rare, but the outbreak has put health authorities on high alert.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated on Wednesday that they are closely monitoring the situation involving U.S. citizens aboard the ship, adding that the risk to the U.S. population is currently extremely low. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Thursday that a French citizen had been in contact with an infected person but is not currently showing any symptoms.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Ministry of Health announced that it will capture and test rodents in the city of Ushuaia, the cruise ship’s point of origin.
The MV Hondius, with about 150 people on board, is expected to dock in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, Spain, by Saturday. Once in Tenerife, if they are healthy, all non-Spanish passengers will be repatriated to their home countries, while 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid.
Three patients were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday. One of them was admitted to a hospital in the Netherlands, while another was transferred to Germany for medical treatment.
The plane carrying the third patient was scheduled to land in the Netherlands early Thursday morning, following a delay caused by a problem with the patient’s life support system.
