Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 04, 2026 12:03 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The World Health Organization said on Monday that ‌as of May 4, seven ​cases of hantavirus ​have been identified after a suspected ​outbreak on a ⁠luxury ⁠cruise ‌ship held off West Africa carrying mostly British, ⁠American and Spanish passengers.

"Seven cases (two laboratory confirmed cases of hantavirus and ​five suspected ⁠cases) have been identified, ⁠including three deaths, ⁠one ⁠critically ​ill patient and three individuals ​reporting ⁠mild symptoms," WHO said.

Around 150 people, including four Canadians, were still stuck on the vessel after three people — a Dutch couple and a German national — died and others fell ill, including a Briton who left the vessel and was being treated in South Africa, according to authorities.

In an email to CBC News earlier Monday, Global Affairs Canada says Canadian consular officials have been in touch with local authorities and that there are no reports of Canadians being directly affected by the outbreak.

Hantavirus, which can ​cause fatal respiratory illness, can be spread when particles from rodent droppings or ​urine become airborne. It does not transfer easily between humans.

There are no specific drugs to treat the disease, so treatment focuses on supportive care, including putting patients on ventilators in severe cases.

The World Health Organization said the risk to ​the wider public was low and there was no need for panic or travel restrictions. But authorities in the ⁠island nation of Cape Verde said they ⁠had not allowed the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.

"We're not ‌just headlines. We're people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home," Jake Rosmarin, a U.S. travel blogger, said in a tearful Instagram video post from the ship on Monday.

"There is a lot of uncertainty and that is the hardest part."

WATCH | Suspected hantavirus kills 3, sickens 3 others:

'Strict precautionary measures'

The ship's Netherlands-based operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said it was looking into whether passengers could be screened and disembarked ⁠on the islands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.

It was trying to arrange the repatriation of two crew members with symptoms of the disease —one British and one Dutch — along with the body of the German national and a "guest closely associated with the deceased" who does not have symptoms.

"Strict precautionary measures ‌are in process on board," it said.

The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March, according to company documentation, on a voyage marketed as an Antarctic nature expedition, with berth prices ranging from 14,000 to 22,000 euros ($22,000-$35,000 Cdn).

It travelled past mainland Antarctica, the Falklands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St. Helena and Ascension before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.

Global Affairs Canada says Canadian consular officials have been in touch that there are no reports of any of the four Canadians on board MV Hondius being directly affected by the outbreak. (AFP/Getty Images)

South Africa's Health Department confirmed two of ​the dead were Dutch nationals: a 70-year-old man who died on St. Helena on April 11, and his wife, 69, who died weeks later in South Africa after collapsing at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport.

According to the most recent news release from Oceanwide Expeditions, it's unclear at this time whether the Dutch couple died from hantavirus.

The British ⁠man being treated in a private clinic in Johannesburg became ill on April 27, while the German victim on the ship died on May ⁠2, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

The cause of the German victim's death has also not been confirmed at this time, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

Source not yet clear

Hantavirus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after ⁠exposure.

A spokesperson ⁠for the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the ​Environment (RIVM), which is assisting with the outbreak, said its source was unclear.

"You could imagine, for example, that rats on board the ship transmitted the virus," ​he said.

"But another possibility is that ⁠during a stop somewhere in South America, people were infected, for instance via mice, and became ill that way."

Dr. Scott Weese is a veterinarian and professor at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College. (Dave MacIntosh/CBC)

With multiple people infected, veterinarian Dr. Scott Weese says it's likely they were all infected by the same source — which could be just one rodent.

"It doesn't take thousands and thousands of rodents. All it takes is, you know, one potentially in the right circumstance to cause an infection," said Weese, who is also a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

He added that the investigation on the ship will likely include looking at where the infected people lived or spent time on the ship, and whether they interacted with each other.

There is the possibility of person-to-person transmission, but it's "limited," according to Dr. Samir Gupta, a respirologist at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital and an associate professor at the University of Toronto's Department of Medicine.

"It's not an easy transmission, but it can happen," he said.

He says person-to-person transmission is more likely to happen by coming into contact with bodily fluids, rather than through breathing the same air as infected people.

He suggests the affected passengers may have been exposed to the virus before the cruise, because the incubation period for the virus is generally two to three weeks but can be as much as seven weeks.

There has been evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Andes virus, a species of hantavirus found in Argentina and Chile, said Daniel Bausch, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland,

"So it's significant that this cruise ship started its journey in Argentina," he said.

"The good news is ... this is not going to be a big outbreak."