A monthslong medical mystery that started aboard a polar cruise ship has officially been closed. The World Health Organization on Thursday declared an end to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius, which left three passengers dead and triggered quarantines on three continents, the New York Times reports. In all, officials confirmed 12 cases and one probable case linked to the luxury vessel, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 with 175 passengers and crew bound for remote Atlantic and Antarctic destinations.
The first passenger, a 69-year-old Dutch man, fell ill days into the voyage and died aboard on April 11; his wife and a German woman later also died after developing symptoms tied to the same Andes strain of hantavirus, a rodent-borne virus that can spread between people in close contact. The ship spent weeks effectively stranded at sea as ports turned it away, until Spain allowed it to dock in Tenerife on May 9. More than 650 contacts in roughly three dozen countries were eventually traced, and the final contact has now completed quarantine and tested negative. The passengers quarantined after returning to their home countries included 18 Americans.
The WHO believes the virus was picked up on land in Patagonia, where the Andes subtype is known to circulate. With no cases reported since May 25, the WHO "considers the hantavirus outbreak over," director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. The organization is coordinating a study involving 21 countries to better understand the disease and work on possible treatments. "Andes virus and other hantaviruses are still a public health risk for South America and some other endemic areas," said WHO medical officer Dr. Diana Rojas Alverez, per the BBC. "What we need to continue doing is to keep monitoring this virus, keep preparing for further spread."
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