A French passenger is being monitored by health officials after reportedly developing signs of the rat-borne illness
A man who never set foot on the hantavirus‐hit cruise ship MV Hondius is now feared to have contracted the deadly infection after sharing a flight with an infected passenger.
Health officials have confirmed the French national is being treated as a high‐risk contact after developing symptoms consistent with the rodent‐borne virus. He had travelled on the same flight as a Dutch woman who was evacuated from the vessel after suffering gastric illness, unaware at the time that she was carrying the Andes strain of hantavirus, reports the Mirror .
Airlink, the South African carrier operating the service from Saint Helena to Johannesburg, said 82 passengers and six crew were on board. The World Health Organisation is now tracing all those who may have been exposed. Three people, a 70‐year‐old Dutch man, his 69‐year‐old wife and a German woman, have already died following the outbreak linked to the expedition cruise.
Former British police officer Martin Anstee, 56, along with two other cruise passengers, have reached the Netherlands for specialist care, while another patient is receiving treatment in Zurich, Switzerland. The Swiss Health ministry stated that the University Hospital Zurich was 'prepared to deal with such cases' and emphasised there is 'currently no risk to the Swiss public'.
Health authorities in Argentina - from where the MV Hondius departed a month ago - are now examining whether the outbreak originated within its borders. The country's health ministry revealed yesterday that rodent trapping and testing will be conducted in Ushuaia, the port from which the vessel set sail. According to World Health Organisation data, Argentina consistently records the highest incidence of the uncommon, rodent-transmitted illness across Latin America.
On Tuesday, the Argentine Health Ministry disclosed 101 hantavirus cases since June 2025, approximately twice the number documented during the corresponding timeframe the year prior. The Andes virus, a South American strain of hantavirus, can trigger hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a serious and frequently lethal respiratory condition. Last year, the disease proved fatal in nearly one-third of instances, the Argentine Health Ministry confirmed, marking a rise from an average mortality rate of 15 per cent across the preceding five years.
Hugo Pizzi, a leading Argentine infectious disease expert, commented: 'Argentina has become more tropical because of climate change, and that has brought disruptions, like dengue and yellow fever, but also new tropical plants that produce seeds for mice to proliferate.
'There is no doubt that as time goes by, the hantavirus is spreading more and more. ' Hantavirus is typically transmitted through breathing in contaminated rodent waste. While human-to-human transmission can occur, the World Health Organisation notes this is uncommon, with their leading epidemic specialist stating the threat to the general population remains minimal. The Andes strain - identified amongst positive samples on board the MV Hondius - represents the sole hantavirus variant known to pass between humans.
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