Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who disembarked from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic.

The operator of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius said 29 passengers of at least 12 nationalities left the ship on 24 April. The Dutch government gave a different figure of 40.

A 69-year-old Dutch woman who later died in South Africa was among them. Two other people died on the ship, which set sail from southern Argentina a month ago. Their deaths are under investigation.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said five of eight suspected hantavirus cases were confirmed. However, the WHO assessed the public health risk as low.

The Dutch government said a Swiss national diagnosed with hantavirus was also among those who left the cruise at the British Overseas Territory.

Another three people — British, Dutch and German nationals — were evacuated from the vessel on Wednesday. The British man, 56-year-old Martin Anstee, is in stable condition.

Oceanwide Expeditions said on Thursday that 30 people, including the body of one deceased guest, disembarked on 24 April. This included seven British and six American guests, as well as visitors from Canada, Germany, Singapore, Turkey and Switzerland.

The company added that the first confirmed hantavirus case was not reported until 4 May and that all guests who left the ship have been contacted.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said the first two cases “travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present.”

Given the incubation period of up to six weeks, more cases may be reported, he warned.

The Dutch government said the ship stopped at St Helena en route to Cape Verde. The 69-year-old Dutch woman left the cruise on 24 April, traveled to South Africa, and died two days later. Her husband died on board on 11 April but is not a confirmed hantavirus case.

Before her death, she boarded a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands but became ill before departure. The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment will contact passengers on that flight for monitoring.

Dutch media reported that a KLM flight attendant who had contact with the deceased woman was hospitalized in Amsterdam with hantavirus symptoms.

The third fatality — a German woman — is not confirmed either. Her body remains on the ship.

Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency is isolating and testing two men who disembarked in St Helena. They took the same flight as the deceased woman.

Two US states — Georgia and Arizona — confirmed they are monitoring three passengers who returned to the US. None show symptoms.

The local government of Tristan da Cunha said it is “working closely with the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and other international partners to assess and manage the situation.”

Argentina’s health ministry will test rodents in the city of Ushuaia, where the ship departed on 1 April.

Source: www.bbc.com