The World Health Organization has a message for a nervous planet: the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship is not the next pandemic, despite the eerie déjà vu of a mysterious virus on an ocean liner.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus walked reporters through the confirmed cases so far. The first victim was a man who developed symptoms on 6 April and died on 11 April; no samples were taken because hantavirus wasn't suspected. His wife went ashore when the ship docked at Saint Helena, also symptomatic, and died during a flight to Johannesburg on 26 April. A third victim, a woman on the ship, reported symptoms on 28 April and died on 2 May. A fourth case, a man who saw the ship's doctor on 24 April, was evacuated and remains in intensive care.
"We don't anticipate a large epidemic," said Abdirahman Sheikh Mahamud, WHO's head of Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations, noting that member states' experience and swift actions should contain the outbreak. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's acting director for epidemic and pandemic management, was unequivocal: "This is not coronavirus. This is a very different virus. This is not the start of a Covid pandemic." She emphasized that Andes virus spreads through prolonged, intimate contact - not through casual airborne transmission like SARS-CoV-2.
The WHO faces the unenviable task of calming public fears while managing an outbreak on a ship carrying multiple nationalities - including citizens from the United States, a country that no longer considers itself part of the WHO. Tedros couldn't resist a gentle jab: "Viruses don't care about our politics and they don't care about our borders."
Meanwhile, a political spat has erupted between Spain's central government and the Canary Islands regional authorities over allowing the ship to dock in Tenerife. President of the archipelago Fernando Clavijo voiced concerns and demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Spain's health minister Mónica García assured that the MV Hondius would remain at anchor and not dock, with passengers evaluated on board and only disembarking for repatriation with full protective gear. The 14 Spanish nationals aboard will be transferred to the Gómez Ulla military hospital in Madrid.
WHO experts stress that the risk to the public remains low, with no further symptomatic cases currently on board - a good sign given the Andes virus's incubation period of up to six weeks. Regular disinfection and cabin containment are in place, and all disembarking passengers must wear medical masks. The two patients hospitalized in the Netherlands are stable, and the patient in South Africa's ICU is reportedly improving.
"This is not Covid; this is not influenza," Van Kerkhove reiterated. "It spreads very, very differently."
Tedros added that he's in regular contact with the ship's captain, who reports that morale has "improved significantly" since the ship started moving again. The original pair affected is believed to have contracted the virus during a birdwatching trip through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay - an activity that, apparently, included visits to sites where the rat species known to carry Andes virus was present. Because nothing says "relaxing birdwatching holiday" like a side of rodent-borne disease.