UKHSA traces MV Hondius contacts after hantavirus cases, risk remains low
Two Britons returned from the MV Hondius without symptoms as UKHSA traced contacts and kept the public risk low after seven ship-linked cases.
Two people who came back to the UK after time on the MV Hondius were not reporting symptoms, even as health officials traced wider contacts from a cruise ship outbreak that has already been linked to three deaths. UKHSA said the risk to the general public remained very low.
The World Health Organization said that as of 4 May there were seven cases tied to the vessel, including two laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infections and five suspected cases. The total included three deaths, one critically ill patient and three people with mild symptoms. Illness onset was recorded between 6 and 28 April, a window that points to a fast-moving cluster on board rather than a broader spread across countries.
The Dutch-flagged ship was carrying 147 passengers and crew, including 88 passengers and 59 crew members from 23 nationalities, when it left Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April. Its route took it through Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena and Ascension Island. The WHO said the vessel was moored off the coast of Cabo Verde and still assessed the risk to the global population as low.
UKHSA said the two UK returnees had travelled back independently and were advised to self-isolate. Close contacts linked to the ship were also being supported and self-isolating. The agency said it was working with the World Health Organization, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Home Office and Border Force to trace anyone who may have been on the same flight as a confirmed case and to carry out public health risk assessments.
Hantavirus is a rare infection that can be severe, and investigators have been looking at where the chain began. One line of inquiry has focused on whether the outbreak started before passengers even boarded, with Argentine officials and other reports suggesting a Dutch couple who visited a landfill during a bird-watching excursion in Argentina may have been the likely source. That possibility would fit the kind of exposure health teams watch for with hantavirus, which is often associated with contact with contaminated environments rather than casual person-to-person spread.
Reports also said the two Britons left the ship at Saint Helena, when it docked there between 22 and 24 April, and later flew back via Johannesburg, South Africa. UK officials said the remaining British nationals on board could be repatriated once the ship reached its next destination if they did not develop symptoms, a reminder of how public health teams try to balance caution, transparency and reassurance when a rare virus appears on a tightly defined travel route.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
