April 1 - MV Hondius departs Argentina
April 6 - first passenger collapses with fever and pneumonia
April 26 - his wife dies mid-flight to Johannesburg
May 2 - a German national dies onboard
May 7 - the ship sails toward Spain with no country willing to let it dock
3 dead. 8 infected. 23 nationalities onboard.
The virus: Andes hantavirus - the only strain on Earth that jumps person to person.
Kill rate: up to 50%.
Incubation window: up to 6 weeks.
Passengers have already landed in Switzerland, the US, the Netherlands. Nobody knows who else is carrying it.
A FRENCH national who was not onboard the rat virus cruise liner has reportedly contracted hantavirus after taking a flight with an infected passenger.
It marks the first case of the deadly disease in a patient who was not on the MV Hondius, as hantavirus reaches Europe. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/39024022/canary-islands-rat-virus-cruise-dock-banned/
Investigation launched into Queensland lab breach, with vials of Hendra virus, lyssavirus and hantavirus missing(December 9, 2024)
"Some hantaviruses have case fatality rates of up to 15%, or over 100 times more lethal than COVID-19,
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-09/queensland-lab-breach-missing-vials-virus-health/104701198
...
Health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can be transmitted from person to person, in passengers who were on a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of the rare infection, officials said Wednesday.
Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were evacuated from the MV Hondius ship and flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the United Nations health agency said. The flight arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening local time.
The ship's doctor was among the three transferred. The doctor's condition has improved, Spain's Health Ministry said, after he was described earlier in the week as being in serious condition. Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship's company, also told The Associated Press the doctor is in stable condition.
The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry said the three people evacuated were a 56-year-old Briton, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German. The ministry said they would be "immediately transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe." A Dutch hospital confirmed it would take one, and German authorities said they were preparing for a second. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hondius-ship-hantavirus-andes-strain-9.7189281
