Outbreak on cruise ship

Expert: Small risk – but terrible consequences

Although the risk of the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MS Hondius developing into a pandemic is very small, the authorities are on their toes as evacuated passengers are now to be brought home to their home countries. Professor Jonas Klingström at Linköping University, who researches hantavirus, describes the virus as one of the most dangerous there is, with a mortality rate of 30 percent.

– Even though the risk is very small, the consequences of a pandemic would be absolutely terrible, he says in SVT's Aktuellt.

The ship is expected to dock in Tenerife on Sunday and the passengers will then be taken to their home countries where they will be kept in isolation. Right now, there is no person with symptoms left on the ship.

Hantavirus Outbreak – It’s About the Problem

• A hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius has resulted in three deaths and a total of eight cases, six of which were laboratory confirmed.
• The ship was quarantined off Cape Verde and later the Canary Islands, with almost 150 people on board and extensive evacuations to hospitals in several countries.
• The WHO assessed that the virus had likely spread between people on board, but the risk of community spread and a global pandemic was considered low by both the WHO and the EU.
• The source of infection is believed to have been contact with rodents during a birdwatching trip to a garbage dump in Ushuaia, Argentina, before the passengers boarded.
• Authorities in several countries traced passengers who had left the ship before the isolation, and a comprehensive health assessment was planned upon arrival in Tenerife.