MV Hondius Captain Thanks Crew After Hantavirus Evacuation From Tenerife, Spain

Passengers from the MV Hondius were flown home and quarantined after a hantavirus outbreak, with the ship anchored in the Canary Islands and the evacuation beginning Sunday in Tenerife, Spain.

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Oceanwide Expeditions said by Monday afternoon that all guests and a limited number of crew members had been successfully transferred from Hondius to waiting aircraft, while 25 crew members and two medical professionals remained on board to accompany the ship back to the Netherlands.

ABC News

The World Health Organization said on Monday there were now seven confirmed cases of the Andes strain of hantavirus, and two other suspected cases including one who died before being tested and one on Tristan da Cunha where there were no tests available.

Three cruise ship passengers have died, and the risk to the broader public is described by health authorities as low from the first-ever hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.

A Spaniard quarantining in Madrid tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship in Tenerife, while the Health Ministry said the remaining 13 Spaniards quarantining at the same military hospital tested negative.

French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday that a French woman tested positive for hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, after she developed symptoms on the flight to Paris.

ABC7 Los Angeles

In Nebraska, Kayla Thomas said the passenger going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center was described as having a federally funded quarantine facility.

The ship’s captain, Jan Dobrogowski, issued a video message praising passengers and crew, saying, "I've witnessed your caring, your unity and quiet strength amongst everybody on board — guests and crew alike — and I must commend my crew for the courage and the selfless resolve".

ABC News said the Andes virus has a mortality rate of about 38% and remains the only hantavirus known to spread from person to person, with symptoms appearing anywhere from 4 to 42 days after exposure.

“Cruise ships are drawing attention not only for a rare strain of hantavirus, but also for more common illnesses such as norovirus while health officials monitor outbreaks and remind travelers to take precautions”

ABC7 Los Angeles

The report also said there are currently no approved vaccines anywhere in the world that specifically protect against the Andes virus, and it described vaccine research as targeting high-risk groups rather than the general public.

Dr. Krutika Kuppalli told ABC News that "Most of the human vaccine data come from Asia and focus on 'Old World' hantaviruses" rather than Andes in the Americas, and Dr. Kartik Chandran said there are vaccine candidates being positioned "at an early stage."

With WHO recommending active monitoring and follow-up for passengers’ home countries, health officials continued to stress that the risk to the public is low while investigators work to understand how the outbreak began and spread.