World Health Organisation officials have confirmed the suspected cases of Hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship has risen as they reveal the symptoms sick passengers presented with
The MV Hondius offshore Cape Verde on May 4(Image: ELTON MONTEIRO/EPA/Shutterstock)
The number of suspected Hantavirus cases amid an outbreak onboard a luxury cruise ship has risen to seven as the symptoms faced by sick passengers have been revealed.
Around 150 people on the MV Hondius cruise ship have been ordered to stay put as the vessel floats in West African waters while authorities rush to contain the suspected rare, rodent-borne illness that could have spread. The World Health Organisation revealed the number of cases has risen to seven, on Monday, with two being laboratory confirmed hantavirus cases and the five others are suspected.
Hantavirus is a rare disease that carried by rodents but is occasionally spread to humans, often through contact with urine, faeces, or saliva of infected rodents. Three passengers on the luxury Dutch liner have died.
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The other cases include a critically ill passenger and three people reporting mild symptoms. The WHO said the illness onset happened between April 6 and 28, 2026.
Some of the reported symptoms included fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock, according to WHO.
The organisation said an investigation was being carried out along with “further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations” adding: “Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew.”
The WHO also released cases studies of the exact symptoms each person faced. A male adult suffered with a fever, headache, and mild diarrhoea, on April 6, but five days later developed respiratory distress and died.
A female adult, who was close to the man that died, reported gastrointestinal symptoms while leaving the cruise for the remote island of St Helena, with the dead man. Her condition deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg and she died at an emergency department on April 26 – it was confirmed on May 4 she had contracted the virus.
The WHO added that this man and woman had been travelling through South America, including Argentina, before they boarded the vessel.
