Three people have died and another is in intensive care in South Africa after a suspected outbreak of the rare but deadly hantavirus on a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that of the six people on the ship exhibiting symptoms, only one of the cases had been confirmed on the vessel.
Associated Press, citing reports from South African media, said the ship was the MV Hondius, sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, a small island nation off the coast of West Africa.
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It is currently docked at Cape Verde.
People can become infected with Hantavirus through exposure to rodents' urine or faeces, and the disease can also spread from person to person, though this is rare.
Initial symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches, but it can also lead to severe respiratory illnesses and death.
"Detailed investigations are ongoing, including further laboratory testing, and epidemiological investigations. Medical care and support are being provided to passengers and crew," WHO said in a statement published on X.
It added that it was coordinating a response to evacuate two symptomatic passengers from the ship, and supporting passengers still on board.
The MarineTraffic global shipping website identified the vessel as a Dutch-flagged passenger cruise ship. It said it was docked in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on Sunday night.
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The first victim was a 70-year-old man who died on the ship and whose body was removed in the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, South Africa's Department of Health said in a statement. The man's wife collapsed at an airport in South Africa trying to take a flight to her home country of the Netherlands, the department said. She died at a nearby hospital.
The department identified the patient in intensive care in a hospital in Johannesburg as a British national.
It said that person fell ill near Ascension Island, another remote island in the Atlantic, after the ship left Saint Helena and was transferred from there to South Africa.
Around 150 tourists were onboard the ship at the time of the outbreak, South Africa's health department said. Several online tour operators said the Hondius, which is described as a specialist polar cruise ship, usually travels with around 70 crew members.
South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases, meanwhile, was conducting contact tracing in the Johannesburg region to identify if other people were exposed to the infected passengers in South Africa.
MV Hondius is operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, a Dutch travel company that offers cruise packages that explore the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the world.
What is hantavirus?
Hantavirus are a group of viruses that can impact people, though there have been no human cases recorded in Australia.
The virus is found all over the world, including in Asia, Europe and the USA.
It gained attention last year after the late actor Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus infection.
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Hackman died around a week later at their home from heart disease.
The virus can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus infections, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.
Reported with Associated Press.
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