WHO Tracks Contacts After Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Kills Three

Health authorities around the world are tracking dozens of people who left a cruise ship before officials detected a hantavirus outbreak. Anyone in close contact with them since is also under watch.

The World Health Organization reported five confirmed cases on the Dutch vessel MV Hondius, including three deaths. The agency said the outbreak does not signal a Covid-style pandemic because this hantavirus strain spreads only through close, intimate contact.

The disease's incubation period can last up to six weeks, so more cases could emerge, WHO officials noted.

The ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, started its trip on April 1 from Ushuaia, Argentina, with about 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries. It is due to reach Spain's Canary Islands on May 10.

Dozens disembarked on St. Helena island on April 24. Seven British nationals got off that day before the first confirmed case on May 4; four remain on the island.

Two other British men have the virus. Martin Anstee, a 56-year-old retired police officer, is stable in the Netherlands after evacuation on Wednesday. The other is in intensive care in South Africa after a flight there last month.

The seven without symptoms are working with health officials. Medical staff will head to St. Helena for support.

Two British nationals are self-isolating at home in the UK after possible exposure. They volunteered to do so and show no symptoms.

Health agencies in five U.S. states are monitoring former passengers: two each in Georgia and Texas, one each in Arizona and Virginia, and an unspecified number in California, according to CBS News.

A Dutch couple took a bird-watching trip through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding on April 1. They visited sites with rats carrying the Andes strain of hantavirus, WHO said.

Argentina is investigating if infections started there. The outbreak source remains unconfirmed.

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodents, but this outbreak marks the first documented person-to-person transmission, according to WHO.

WHO is coordinating with officials in at least 12 countries monitoring returning citizens.

One expert described the response to BBC as highly chaotic and uncoordinated, though the general public faces little risk.

The MV Hondius could not dock in a West African archipelago and stayed anchored offshore for days before heading to the Canary Islands on Wednesday. There, 146 people from 23 countries will get medical checks before heading home.

A Swiss man who left the ship in St. Helena tested positive for the Andes strain. He developed symptoms and is under care in Zurich, Swiss officials and WHO said Wednesday.

The three deaths include the Dutch couple. The woman tested positive and died in South Africa after developing fever on April 28 and later pneumonia symptoms.

France's Health Ministry identified eight nationals who contacted the Dutch woman on her flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg. One has mild symptoms awaiting tests; the others got isolation and testing options.

A Dutch woman, a KLM stewardess who contacted the deceased in Johannesburg, was hospitalized in Amsterdam for possible hantavirus symptoms, the health ministry said Thursday. She tested negative, a WHO official told CBS News on Friday.