What Is Hantavirus? Rare Rodent-Borne Virus Linked to Deaths on Antarctic Cruise

With the promise of penguin colonies, icebergs and wildlife lectures, passengers embarked on the MV Hondius. But what was supposed to be an experience of a lifetime (in a good way) turned into a tragic journey as a deadly outbreak of the rare hantavirus hit the cruise.

Oceanwide Expeditions’ ship, which is 107 meters in length, set off from southern Argentina on April 1, sailing toward Antarctica and then across the Atlantic Ocean.

On April 6, a 70-year-old Dutch man fell ill with fever, headache and diarrhea, WHO said. On Aprill 11, he died after developing respiratory distress. His wife, who joined him on his journey to St. Helena, fell ill during the journey and died on April 26 in Johannesburg, South Africa, after disembarking from the cruise.

When a third passenger, a British man, showed symptoms, he was placed in an intensive care unit at a hospital in South Africa. Test results on the man confirmed he contracted hantavirus.

The third fatality, a German woman, died on the ship on May 2. This happened after the cruise set sail for the West African island nation of Cape Verde. According to WHO, she died four days after falling ill. Her body is still on the ship.

What Is Hantavirus?

Hantavirus is a rare but potentially fatal disease usually spread through contact with rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. Symptoms typically start with fever, headache, and gastrointestinal upset and then escalate to serious respiratory failure.

On May 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 7 confirmed and suspected cases, including 3 deaths. As of yet, the WHO has rated the risk to the people of the world as low in their Disease Outbreak News update.

One possible hypothesis is that exposure occurred either before boarding in Argentina or during trips made in South America, experts said. One strain of hantavirus, the Andes virus, has been known to spread from person to person in restricted areas in South America.

Vikram Niranjan, an assistant professor in public health at the University of Limerick, told The Guardian, “They do combine several conditions that make transmission easier: close contact, shared dining, enclosed spaces, and shared water and air systems. In outbreak terms, they bring together the right conditions of time, place, person and microorganism for spread to occur.”

He added, “A ship is a defined setting, so once an outbreak is recognised, public health teams can focus on a known population and a known environment. That makes case-finding, contact-tracing, isolation, cleaning and environmental review more feasible than in an uncontrolled community setting.

The same features that can help spread infection can also help contain it if action is early: passengers and crew are identifiable, movements can be restricted, and the ship’s medical and operational teams can work with port health authorities.”

Passengers Confined as Ship Held Offshore

As the number of illnesses increased, passengers were kept mostly in their cabins and medical staff evaluated them on-board. Cabo Verde refused to let the ship come in, but did permit limited medical evacuations.

Oceanwide Expeditions had experts from the Netherlands on board to aid the ship’s doctor and crew with infectious disease issues. There was no evidence that the infection was brought aboard the ship and the ship’s operator said that the ships were subject to stringent biosecurity checks to prevent rodents from getting on board the expedition ships, the ship’s operator said.

Why the Story Resonates

The cruises to Antarctica are sold as a close-up experience of one of the world’s most distant lands, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The Hondius outbreak was an example of the risk of life-threatening disease conditions outside of advanced medical care levels.

Before boarding, Oceanwide Expeditions cautions guests that they are about to embark on “a voyage in remote areas where advanced medical facilities are unavailable.

The trip had been organized for the penguins and glaciers, but for those who had registered to see the animals and glaciers, it was a jarring reminder that even carefully planned trips can suddenly take an unexpected turn when a medical emergency strikes.