A small polar expedition ship carrying roughly 147 passengers and crew is expected to dock in Tenerife, Spain in the early hours of Sunday, May 10, following a hantavirus outbreak that has killed three people and triggered an international public health response with over a dozen countries.
The MV Hondius is not a mainstream cruise ship. Operated by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, the 170-passenger vessel specializes in remote polar voyages to Antarctica, the Arctic, and isolated South Atlantic islands.
The ship departed the southern tip of Argentina on April 1 on its Atlantic Odyssey voyage, carrying passengers from 23 countries.
Here is how the outbreak unfolded:
April 1: The Hondius departs Ushuaia, Argentina, beginning a transatlantic expedition voyage.
April 6: A 70-year-old male passenger falls ill with fever, headache, and gastrointestinal symptoms.
April 11: The passenger dies on board. The cause of death is not yet identified as hantavirus.
April 24: The passenger’s body is removed from the ship during a stop at Saint Helena, a remote British territory in the South Atlantic. His 69-year-old wife, also a passenger, leaves the ship and boards a flight to Johannesburg. She dies on April 26.
Test results on May 4 confirm she was infected with hantavirus. On the same day, more than two dozen other passengers disembark at Saint Helena without contact tracing, dispersing to at least 12 countries.
April 27: A second ill passenger is medically evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa. Test results on May 2 confirm hantavirus infection. The passenger remains hospitalized in an intensive care unit.
May 2: A German woman who had shown symptoms since April 28 dies on board the ship. Hantavirus is officially confirmed in a ship passenger for the first time.
May 3: The Hondius arrives in Cape Verde. The World Health Organization confirms it is responding to a suspected hantavirus outbreak. Three additional passengers on board are reported ill.
May 6: After Cape Verde is deemed unable to handle the scale of evacuation needed, the ship departs for Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.
May 9 (current): The Hondius is en route to Tenerife, where it is expected to dock Sunday. Spain has built an isolated staging area at Granadilla Port. Passengers will be transported in guarded, cordoned-off vehicles directly to repatriation flights.
The U.S. is sending a government medical flight to bring home 17 Americans still on board; they will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
The U.K. is also chartering a plane for its roughly two dozen nationals on board. As of Friday, no one remaining on the ship is reported to have active symptoms.
CDC Moves to Level 3
The CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center at Level 3, the lowest of three activation levels, to monitor the situation.
The WHO has assessed the public health risk as low, and a flight attendant who briefly came into contact with an infected passenger tested negative for the virus.
Health officials in at least five U.S. states and two New Jersey residents are being monitored as a precaution; none have shown symptoms.
Hantavirus is primarily transmitted through contact with infected rodent droppings, not through casual person-to-person contact. Health officials believe the initial exposure likely occurred on land in South America before the voyage began.
Editor’s Note: This article is being updated as new information becomes available.
