Rare human-to-human transmission of the hantavirus may have happened aboard a cruise ship of nearly 150 passengers, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, after three passengers died and at least four others were left sickened.
The U.N. health agency said it is still investigating the outbreak aboard the Dutch vessel MV Hondius as it remains off the coast of Cape Verde, emphasizing that human-to-human transmission is uncommon and that the risk to the wider public was low.
"We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that's happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who have shared cabins," Maria Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the WHO, told reporters in Geneva.
"Some people on the ship were couples, they were sharing rooms so that's quite intimate contact," Van Kerkhove said.
The WHO said Monday that two cases of hantavirus infection have been laboratory confirmed, while five additional suspected cases are pending. Of the seven people affected, three have died and one is currently in intensive care in South Africa.
Humans are primarily infected with hantavirus infection through contact with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, according to the U.N. health agency, though limited human-to-human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of the Andes variant of the virus.
The WHO said it had been told there were no rats aboard the cruise vessel, leading to the working assumption that the deceased Dutch couple was infected in Argentina before boarding.
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The vessel was on a weeks-long polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and several isolated islands in the South Atlantic.
Authorities are working to determine whether the cases are connected and when those requiring medical care will be allowed to disembark.
The WHO said Monday that passengers were asked to stay in their cabins and "limit their risk while disinfection and other measures are being taken."
Van Kerkhove told reporters that the plan for now is for the ship "to continue on to the Canary Islands."
"We’re working with Spanish authorities, who will welcome the ship," Van Kerkhove said.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner, along with The Associated Press and Reuters, contributed to this report.
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