Another passenger linked to the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has been flown to Europe for treatment, as health authorities continue tracing possible exposures across several countries.
The latest patient arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday while the vessel continued its journey toward Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.
DDM reported that the outbreak aboard the ship has triggered international concern after three passengers died from the virus.
However, global health agencies insist the risk of a widespread outbreak remains low.
Cases connected to the cruise have now prompted monitoring and isolation measures in countries including Britain, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa.
Dutch airline KLM also confirmed that one of its flight attendants is being tested after possible exposure to an infected passenger during a recent flight.
Hantavirus is a rare disease usually transmitted through contact with infected rodents or their waste.
It can lead to severe respiratory illness, heart complications and, in some cases, haemorrhagic fever.
There is currently no vaccine or specific cure, with treatment mainly focused on managing symptoms.
Health experts say the strain identified on the MV Hondius is the Andes variant, a rare form capable of spreading between humans through close contact.
Investigators believe one passenger may have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and later transmitted it to others during the Atlantic voyage.
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company operating the vessel, said there were currently no symptomatic individuals left onboard.
In the United Kingdom, health officials said two passengers who returned from the cruise have been advised to isolate, although neither has shown symptoms.
Authorities stressed that the public health risk remains “very low.”
The World Health Organisation also moved to calm fears, with WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus saying the likelihood of the virus spreading globally was low.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoed the same position, describing the threat to the American public as “extremely low.”
Attention has now shifted to South America, where Argentine authorities plan to test rodents in Ushuaia the city where the cruise departed on April 1 as part of efforts to trace the source of the outbreak.
The first known fatality involved a Dutch passenger who died aboard the ship on April 11. At the time, passengers were reportedly told the death was from natural causes.
Concern escalated after the man’s wife, who had travelled with his body to South Africa after leaving the ship, also died from hantavirus weeks later.
Officials are now tracing passengers and crew members who may have had contact with infected individuals during flights and stopovers linked to the cruise.
Despite the heightened monitoring, health authorities continue to stress that hantavirus spreads far less easily than COVID-19 and that the current outbreak remains limited.
