A luxury cruise ship carrying 149 passengers and crew is facing asuspected hantavirus outbreakthat has already left three people dead. The vessel is currentlyanchored offshore near Cape Verde, the island nation in the central Atlantic off the west coast of Africa, as health officials rush to assess the scale of the outbreak.
TheMV Hondiusis currently anchored offshorenear Praia, the capital and largest city of Cape Verde. Ship-tracking data show the vessel anchored just off the coast on Sunday aftertransiting from Argentina, with its prior voyage originating near the Antarctic Peninsula.
Hondius's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, toldBBC News thata Dutch husband and wife, as well as a German national, had died but did not reveal the cause of death. However, the Dutch company said hantavirus was confirmed in a 69-year-old UK national who is in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Themain transmission risk of the deadly virus to humans is through infectedrodent urine, droppings, saliva, or contaminated dust, especially in poorly ventilated areas. People can inhale contaminated particles when rodent waste is disturbed.
Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed two other crew members on board "with acute respiratory symptoms, one mild and one severe."
"Itis not entirely uncommon for rodents to hitch a ride on a ship, which would be one possibility," Charlotte Hammer, assistant professor and infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, told the UK Science Media Center.
Hammer noted, "People having been infected when the ship last made port in Argentina is another possibility. The last possibility would be human-to- human transmission, which, particularly at scale, would be very unlikely."
Bloombergquoted the World Health Organization, which is "facilitating coordination between member states and the ship's operators for medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, as well as a full public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board."
This is yet another reminder of why cruises are a terrible way to spend a holiday.
Source: ZeroHedge News
