A suspected hantavirus outbreak in a cruise ship that departed from Argentina to Cape Verde has left three people dead and three ill, at least one of them in intensive care. The three casualties are all Dutch: a couple (a man aged 70, who died on the island of St Helena, and a woman aged 69 who died in a Johannesburg hospital after the cruise made an emergency stop in South Africa) and another Dutch person. A British national, 69, is also in Johannesburg in intensive care, reported the BBC.
The Dutch-based cruise, MV Hondius, is currently anchored in the capital of Cape Verde, with around 150 passengers from different nationalities, including ten Spaniards.
At least one of the victims, as well as the British man in the hospital, have been confirmed to have been infected by a hantavirus, that cause an illness that starts with flu-like symptoms but can cause pulmonary or renal syndromes, with a death rate of about 40%-45% in the cases of pulmonary syndromes when the lungs are filled with fluids, and no known treatment.
The hantavirus is a family of virus that comes from rodents, and infections typically occur when the virus becomes airborne from a rodent's urine, droppings, or saliva, which may happen in enclosed spaces like cabins or sheds with no ventilation. According to World Health Organisation, person-to-person transmission can also happen, although it is very rare, and only in the case of close and direct contact with a symptomatic case.
There are several documented cases of hantavirus outbreaks in Argentina, where the people from the cruise were presumably infected. According to Spanish health minister, there were 229 confirmed cases of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome during 2025 in all of North and South America (Argentina, Brasil, Bolivia, Chile, United States, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay), with 59 casualties, a fatality rate of nearly 26 percent. Betsy Arakawa, wife of famous actor Gene Hackman, died of this illness.