{"id":653175,"date":"2026-05-06T11:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/653175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T11:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T11:16:10","slug":"hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-on-way-to-spain-as-rare-andes-strain-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/653175\/","title":{"rendered":"Hantavirus-hit cruise ship on way to Spain as rare Andes strain confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and marooned for days off the coast of Cape Verde with almost 150 people on board is on its way to the Canary Islands, where a Spanish regional leader says it is not welcome.<\/p>\n

Fernando \u200cClavijo said the risk was too great for the local population of Tenerife, some 1,300 kilometres from the Spanish mainland.<\/p>\n

The MV Hondius was travelling from Cape Verde, west of Senegal, on Wednesday in a northerly direction.<\/p>\n

“This decision is not based on any \u200ctechnical criteria, nor is there \u200csufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety,” Mr Clavijo told radio station, COPE.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has the power to overrule Canary Islands leaders who don’t want the MV Hondius to dock in Tenerife. (Reuters: Costas Baltas)<\/p>\n

He added that \u200che had requested an urgent meeting with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to \u200cdiscuss the issue. \u200c<\/p>\n

What we know about the virus suspected in deadly cruise ship outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n

A rodent-borne illness is suspected of causing the deaths of three cruise ship passengers and leaving others sick. Here’s what we know about the illness.<\/p>\n

Mr Clavijo leads a coalition with the conservative People’s Party, \u200cthe main opposition to Mr Sanchez’s Socialists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the decision ultimately belongs to the central government, which supersedes regional authorities.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, South Africa has confirmed it has identified among the victims a strain of the virus that can, in rare cases, spread among humans.<\/p>\n

And the Swiss government said a man who returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the MV Hondius was infected with the hantavirus and was being treated in Zurich.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It said there was no danger to the broader population.<\/p>\n

A Dutch couple and a German national who had been on the ship have died, while a British national is in intensive care in South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Netherlands is preparing to evacuate three patients who are on board.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the outbreak, the World Health Organization has stressed that the risk to the broader public is low.<\/p>\n

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People are usually infected by hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, their droppings or their saliva. Human-to-human transmission is rare.<\/p>\n

But a limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which has spread in South America, including Argentina, where the cruise trip started in March.<\/p>\n

A presentation by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, as well as in the British man who is still in hospital there.<\/p>\n

“This is the only strain that is known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and as said earlier, it only happens due to very close contact,” the presentation said.\"A<\/p>\n

Infected rodents or their droppings or saliva can pass on hantavirus to humans. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

South Africa’s health ministry said contact tracing was underway, with 62 contacts identified including flight crew and healthcare workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contacts will be monitored until an incubation period has passed, and none have been diagnosed with the hantavirus so far.<\/p>\n

Cape Verde was meant to be the ship’s final destination, but the nation off West Africa has not allowed the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Dutch foreign ministry said it was coordinating the evacuation of three patients, one of them with Dutch nationality, to the Netherlands, where they will be provided with care.<\/p>\n

“All efforts are aimed at making this happen as soon as possible,” it said.<\/p>\n

“Exact details of the timing and logistics of this operation can only be shared once they are definitively established.”<\/p>\n

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