The World Health Organization has confirmed six of eight suspected hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, with three deaths reported. The wider public health threat remains low, according to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Passengers from at least 12 countries disembarked in St Helena on 24 April, and many are now returning home where they may be asked to isolate. Countries are tracking those who left before the virus was detected and their close contacts.
Three people have died: a Dutch couple and a German national. Eight suspected cases include a Swiss citizen. Hantavirus is typically rodent-borne but can rarely spread between humans.
Argentina reported 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, double the previous year. The government suspects the outbreak may have started with a Dutch couple during a bird-watching trip in Ushuaia. Rodent trapping is underway there.
The MV Hondius was denied docking in St Helena and the Canary Islands. The Netherlands is coordinating assistance. Thirteen Dutch nationals are on board. A Dutch KLM stewardess was hospitalised in Amsterdam after contact with a fatal case.
Nineteen British passengers and four crew are on the ship. One British passenger with pneumonia tested positive and is in intensive care in South Africa. Another, Martin Anstee, was evacuated to the Netherlands. Twenty-two British nationals will isolate at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside. The US CDC has classified the outbreak as a Level 3 emergency, its lowest tier, and says risk to the American public is extremely low.
