A dangerous hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius has raised international alarm, as health authorities struggle to identify "patient zero" and trace the contacts of infected people.
According to the World Health Organization, eight cases of hantavirus have been recorded so far, five of them laboratory-confirmed, while three people have died. One body is still on board.
Two confirmed patients and one suspected case were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday. Dutch authorities identified the infected as a 41-year-old Dutch national, a 56-year-old Briton and a 65-year-old German, who will be treated in specialist hospitals in Europe.
The Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the MV Hondius, said two of the evacuees are in serious condition, while the third person has no symptoms but had close contact with a German passenger who died on board on May 2.
Experts have said the passengers are suspected of being infected with the Andes virus, a variant of Hantavirus found mainly in Argentina and Chile. The virus is rarely transmitted from person to person and usually requires close contact.
WHO expert Maria Van Kerkhove stated that "this is not the next COVID," but warned that it is a serious infectious disease that can cause severe respiratory failure.
