4 Canadians on board cruise ship with deadly hantavirus outbreak

Four Canadians are confirmed to be onboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean where a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus has killed three passengers and left at least three other people seriously ill.

The operator of the cruise, Oceanwide Expeditions, wrote in a press release Monday that it is still dealing with a “serious medical situation on board the m/v Hondius, which is currently off the coast of Cape Verde.”

Hantavirus is a rodent-borne illness spread by contact with rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings. WHO says that while it rarely happens, hantaviruses can also spread directly between people.

The MV Hondius, a Dutch ship on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, had requested help from local health authorities Sunday after making its way to the island of Cape Verde, off the West Africa coast. But no one has been allowed to disembark, Netherlands-based operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.

It was unclear how an outbreak could have started, and the World Health Organization said it was investigating while working to coordinate the evacuation of two sick crew members.

Hantavirus has no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.

Another sick person — a British man evacuated to South Africa on April 27 — is the only one to have tested positive for the virus, authorities said. He is in critical condition and isolated in intensive care, according to local health officials.

The body of one of the passengers who died — a German — remains on the ship, according to an Oceanwide Expeditions statement. A 70-year-old Dutch man died onboard April 11, and his 69-year-old wife died later after leaving the ship, officials said.

Among the 87 remaining passengers, four are Canadian, 17 are Americans, 19 are from the U.K. and 13 from Spain, according to the company. Sixty-one crew members, including the two who are ill, also are onboard.

Hantaviruses gained attention after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year.

Hackman died around a week later at their home from heart disease.