Health Officials Race to Track Passengers from Hantavirus Cruise Ship at St Helena

Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of passengers who left a cruise ship hit by hantavirus cases at St Helena in the South Atlantic.

The ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said 29 passengers from at least 12 nationalities disembarked from the MV Hondius on April 24. The Dutch government reported a higher figure of 40.

A 69-year-old woman was among those who left the Dutch vessel at the British Overseas Territory. She later died in South Africa. The Dutch government said a Swiss national diagnosed with hantavirus since then also disembarked there.

Two other people died on the ship, which departed Argentina a month ago. Three others were evacuated Wednesday: a British man, a Dutch crew member and a German passenger, according to the World Health Organization.

The British man, 56-year-old Martin Anstee, is in stable condition. The other evacuees were a 41-year-old Dutch crew member and a 65-year-old German.

Oceanwide Expeditions said Thursday that 30 people, including the body of one deceased guest, had left on April 24. This group included seven Britons and six Americans, plus guests from Canada, Germany, Singapore, Turkey and Switzerland.

The company noted the first confirmed hantavirus case was not reported until May 4. It said it has contacted all guests who disembarked. Oceanwide remains in close discussion with authorities on arrival point, quarantine and screening for remaining guests.

The Dutch luxury liner is due to dock in Spain's Canary Islands soon. The WHO reported eight hantavirus cases among those on board: three confirmed and five suspected.

Officials said one deceased person had the virus; the other two deaths are under investigation. The ship stopped at St Helena en route to Cape Verde off West Africa.

The 69-year-old Dutch woman who died left at St Helena on April 24 and flew to South Africa, where she died two days later. Her husband died on board April 11 but is not a confirmed hantavirus case.

Before her death, she boarded a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands but fell ill before departure. The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment will contact that flight's passengers for monitoring.

Dutch media reported Thursday that a KLM flight attendant who contacted the woman was hospitalized in Amsterdam with hantavirus symptoms.

The third fatality, a German woman, is not confirmed as hantavirus. Her body remains on board.

Singapore's Communicable Diseases Agency is isolating and testing two men who left at St Helena: a 67-year-old Singaporean and a 65-year-old permanent resident. They took the same St Helena-to-Johannesburg flight as the woman who died. Test results are pending.

Georgia and Arizona confirmed they are monitoring three passengers who returned to the US after disembarking. None show symptoms. The US Department of State said it is in direct contact with affected passengers.

St Helena covers 47 square miles, a third the size of the Isle of Wight, with about 4,400 residents and one hospital.