The deadly Hantavirus is spreading in Europe after an outbreak on a liner. What you need to know

An outbreak of hantavirus has occurred on a cruise ship en route from Argentina to Cape Verde. Three passengers from Europe were killed, and several more people are under medical supervision. Symptoms of the disease, which has a mortality rate of up to 50%, also appeared in those who had not been on the cruise and had contact with its participants. What are the symptoms of hantavirus and what danger it poses — in the Izvestia article.

What is hantavirus?

• Hantavirus, also known as orthohantavirus, is a family of pathogens that threaten humans and animals. Their main danger lies in the fact that they can cause hemorrhagic fever, the key symptoms of which are bleeding, vascular damage, blood clotting disorders, and in the most severe cases, internal hemorrhage. Hemorrhagic fever is also caused by many well-known deadly viruses such as Marburg, Ebola, yellow fever and dengue fever.

• Hantaviruses are divided into two major categories. Old World viruses are common in Europe and Asia, especially in China, where tens of thousands of infections are reported annually. The eastern type of hantaviruses mainly affects the kidneys. Mortality from it usually does not exceed 15%, and in European variants it ranges up to 1%. Hantavirus vaccines are common in China and South Korea, but their effectiveness has not been fully proven.

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• The New World hantaviruses, which are common in North and South America, are much more dangerous. The fever they cause mainly affects the lungs, causing swelling and suffocation. Mortality from Western hantaviruses is in the range of 30-50%. Like the eastern subspecies, there is no special treatment or vaccination, modern medicine can only try to combat the symptoms.

• Despite their high mortality rate, hantaviruses are not usually perceived as extremely dangerous. Their carriers are wild rodents, spreading them through their secretions. The virus is transmitted by airborne dust, that is, it is usually infected by inhaling dust in which rodents could be present (for example, during cleaning in non-residential premises), through direct contact with animals, or by consuming food and water with them at the same time.

• However, there is a single type of hantavirus called Andes, which is transmitted by airborne droplets, meaning it can be transmitted from person to person. It belongs to the New World hantaviruses and is widespread in South American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay. Infection can occur through close contact with another person, living together and caring for a patient, and sexual partners have a 15-fold increased risk of infection. The incubation period of the Andes virus is up to eight weeks, after which the most severe symptoms develop extremely quickly.

How the infection occurred on the liner

• It was the Andes virus that was detected on board the MV Hondius cruise ship, which experienced an outbreak of hantavirus that has already claimed the lives of at least three people. The ship started sailing on April 1 and left the Argentine city of Ushuaia. He was supposed to visit Antarctica, the South Atlantic and complete the journey to Cape Verde. About 150 people boarded the ship, including 61 crew members, including one Russian.

• At the end of the first week of sailing, the Dutch citizen showed signs of fever. He developed pulmonary insufficiency and died on April 11. His body was landed on the island of Saint Helena. His wife and about 40 other passengers got off the plane with him. The woman flew to South Africa, where she also became ill before the flight to Amsterdam, and the next day she also died in a Johannesburg hospital.

• At the same time, a British citizen showed fever and shortness of breath on MV Hondius. He was also taken to Johannesburg in serious condition. Studies have confirmed that both a British man and a Dutch woman have become infected with hantavirus. Meanwhile, on May 2, a German citizen died on the ship, and her escorts and crew members began to show symptoms of infection. On May 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak of hantavirus on the liner, assessing the risk of its further spread among the population as low.

How the virus outbreak developed

• On May 3, MV Hondius docked in Cape Verde. The local authorities sent medical workers to the ship and created an isolation zone. However, the island state admitted that it could not provide all the necessary conditions for passengers to disembark.

• In this regard, it was decided to send a ship to the Canary Islands. The Spanish authorities approved the admission of patients, but on May 6, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said he would refuse to accept the ship due to fears that its arrival would cause quarantine and undermine the tourism industry. At the same time, the WHO noted that there are also Spanish citizens on board the ship who are eligible to receive medical care in their home country. The ship is currently on its way to Tenerife, the island capital, and is scheduled to arrive on May 9th.

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• Several cruise participants were transported by air ambulance to receive medical treatment in other countries. Switzerland has confirmed that one of its citizens has been infected with hantavirus and is undergoing treatment in Zurich. One passenger and two crew members, including a ship's doctor from the UK, were also taken to the Netherlands. Eight cases of hantavirus infection have been confirmed among the cruise participants.

• It later became known that the symptoms of hantavirus began to appear in those who were not on board the MV Hondius. On May 7, a flight attendant serving a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, on which the deceased Dutch woman was supposed to fly, was hospitalized. Symptoms were also found in a Frenchman who was on the same flight as a passenger on the liner.

• Meanwhile, the Argentine Ministry of Health conducted its own investigation into the events leading up to the outbreak. It reported that a couple from the Netherlands became the first distributor of the virus. She arrived in Argentina on November 27 and traveled by car for four months, visiting several provinces of the country with stops in Chile and Uruguay. Four days before the start of the cruise, they returned to Argentina. Currently, no cases of hantavirus infection have been registered in the country.