Health Agencies Race to Find Passengers Who Left Cruise

Passengers from a luxury Antarctic cruise are now at the center of a worldwide contact tracing mission, the Wall Street Journal reports. The MV Hondius, which carried tourists to remote southern waters, has become the focus of an urgent international effort after three deaths and five infections so far were linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, a rare, rodent-borne virus that can sometimes spread between people. Up to 30 passengers disembarked at the tiny Atlantic island of St. Helena before authorities realized hantavirus was to blame for the first passenger's death, and some later fanned out via Johannesburg to Europe, Africa, and beyond, prompting health agencies and airlines to dig through manifests and alert travelers. In the US, residents of three states who were on the cruise are being monitored, USA Today reports.

South African scientist Jacqueline Weyer says her lab confirmed the first hantavirus case after ruling out COVID, flu, and other suspects—results she says she double- and triple-checked before sounding the alarm. Tests later tied the widow of the first victim, who ultimately also died herself, to the same virus. Researchers in South Africa and Switzerland have since identified the strain as Andes, the only known hantavirus with documented person-to-person spread, though experts stress that such transmission requires prolonged, close contact and does not typically lead to large outbreaks. The World Health Organization currently assesses the broader public-health risk as low. The Andes strain is found in Argentina, and officials in that country are investigating whether that's where the first victim was infected, the AP reports. Complicating matters is the fact that the virus can incubate for as long as eight weeks.

Elsewhere, the chase is on. Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the Hondius, says it is tracing passengers and crew dating back to March. Three doctors have boarded the ship and several high-risk passengers were evacuated to Europe; Cape Verde refused the vessel permission to dock, and it is now headed toward the Canary Islands. Swiss authorities are tracking contacts of an infected man hospitalized in Zurich; Dutch carrier KLM and South African airline Airlink are notifying fliers who shared recent flights with infected or suspected cases. One Turkish YouTuber who sailed on the ship says he tested negative and is self-isolating, a micro-level response mirroring the global one: watch, wait, and track. (One expert says, "This is not the next COVID.")