WHO traces 29 MV Hondius passengers after Hantavirus Ushuaia Landfill Outbreak
Authorities are tracing at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities who left the MV Hondius on 24 April before isolation measures were in place, after the hantavirus ushuaia landfill outbreak was linked to the ship. Oceanwide Expeditions said the passengers disembarked at Saint Helena with the body of the first fatality, and the first confirmed case was not reported until 4 May.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said, “This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic. This is not Covid” as health agencies began following passengers now back in the United States, Britain, Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland and elsewhere. The World Health Organization said five of the eight suspected cases linked to the ship had been confirmed, and the outbreak has killed three people.
WHO and Oceanwide Expeditions
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported” and added, “While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk low.” That assessment leaves health services looking for exposed travelers, not broad containment measures, even as the passenger list keeps widening across borders.
Oceanwide Expeditions said 29 people and the body of the first fatality left the vessel at Saint Helena on 24 April. That timeline is the problem for contact tracers: people who may have been exposed were already moving through airports and health systems days before the first confirmed case was reported on 4 May.
Passengers in Britain, the United States
The tracing effort now reaches specific passengers and countries. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was monitoring passengers who had travelled to Georgia, California and Arizona. Two passengers who returned to Britain were self-isolating at home and showing no symptoms, while Prof Robin May said, “For the broader public, not directly involved in this cruise ship, the risk here is really negligible.”
In Europe, a woman who had not been on the ship was being tested for hantavirus in an isolated ward in an Amsterdam hospital after showing symptoms, and a man who made his way to Switzerland was being treated at a Zurich hospital after testing positive for the virus. Two Singapore residents who had been on the Hondius had been isolated and were being tested, and a Danish citizen who had been on the cruise was in self-quarantine and showing no symptoms.
Contact tracing across countries
The practical next step is plain: health officials in multiple countries are matching passenger movements against exposure windows, with Britain, the United States, Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland already involved. Robin May said returning passengers would be asked to self-isolate for 45 days, a longer watch period than ordinary travel screening because the Andes virus can take weeks before illness appears.
For passengers who left the MV Hondius before the outbreak was recognized, the issue is no longer just where the ship sailed. It is where every exposed traveler went after 24 April, and which health system will be the one to spot the next case first.
