Three patients, including a British doctor, were airlifted from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship to receive specialist medical care on Wednesday.
A total of eight suspected cases of the deadly disease have now been linked to the MV Hondius, with five of those cases now confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
There have been three deaths among passengers aboard the luxury cruise ship, which is currently sitting off Cape Verde as it prepares to sail to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Two people who returned independently to the UK have also been told to self-isolate, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding that “the risk to the general public remains very low” and neither has reported symptoms.
While the cause of the outbreak is unconfirmed, two Argentine officials investigating its origins said the government’s leading hypothesis was that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching tour in Ushuaia, Argentina.
They said the couple visited a landfill during the trip, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
Health authorities have maintained that the risk to global health is low. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s top epidemic expert, said: “This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease,” adding: “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
Two of the people evacuated on Wednesday were crew members, including the ship’s 56-year-old British doctor, who authorities say is no longer in critical condition.
A 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German national were also evacuated and will be transferred to specialist hospitals in Europe.
The cruise ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said two of those patients were ill, while the third had no symptoms but was “closely associated” with a German passenger who died last Saturday.
Another two passengers have tested positive in South Africa for the Andes strain, which, though rare, has been known to be transmissible between humans, the country’s health ministry said.
The WHO said it had not been notified of any changes to the Andes strain of hantavirus found on a cruise ship that would make it more transmissible.
Officials also said a Swiss national who had been aboard the vessel was being treated in a hospital in Zurich.
The remaining 150 passengers on the ship are isolated in their cabins and expected to arrive in the Canary Islands in the coming days.
