Passengers leave hantavirus-hit cruise ship in the Canary Islands

Around 94 passengers from the hantavirus-hit Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius were evacuated from Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. 18 among them are heading to the US.

The cruise had three deaths, out of which two were confirmed hantavirus cases.

The vessel docked in Tenerife, where officials safely disembarked passengers. People were wearing protective suits and masks, and evacuees traveled by smaller boats to shore before boarding government-arranged flights.

Among the 18 passengers bound for the United States, one is a British resident. They are heading to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit for possible symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, and diarrhea.

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said the evacuation operation went according to plan, with evacuation flights to Australia and the Netherlands scheduled for Monday.

Although health officials reported no symptoms among passengers screened before departure, the US and France later confirmed that two evacuees became ill during a flight home, prompting others to enter isolation.

Authorities traced the outbreak to a landfill site in southern Argentina, where rodents carrying hantavirus are common. 

The World Health Organization believes some passengers contracted the Andes strain in South America. However, officials say the risk of a wider outbreak remains very low because human-to-human transmission is rare.