American speaks out from cruise ship amid deadly hantavirus outbreak
An American passenger aboard a luxury cruise ship at the center of a deadly suspected hantavirus outbreak is speaking out on social media about the ongoing situation.
"There's a lot of uncertainty, and that's the hardest part," passenger Jake Rosmarin said in a video posted to Instagram from the MV Hondius. "All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity, and to get home."
Oceanwide Expeditions, the cruise ship's Netherlands-based operator, said in its latest update on Monday that medical crews are working to evacuate sick passengers from the ship, which is currently anchored off Cape Verde.
Rosmarin is one of 149 people onboard the ship, representing 23 different nationalities, Oceanwide Expeditions said in a press release.
"What's happening right now is very real for all of us here. We're not just a story. We're not just headlines. We're people. People with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home," Rosmarin said.
The ship left from Argentina three weeks ago, originally bound for Antarctica.
South African health officials said in a press release Monday that some passengers began experiencing "serious health complications arising from what was initially considered severe acute respiratory infections."
The first two deaths were a married couple from the Netherlands, according to Oceanwide Expeditions. The 70-year-old male passenger became ill first with a fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea starting on April 6. He died onboard on April 11, the cruise operator said.
The cause of death was not determined onboard, it added.
No microbiological tests were performed at the time, according to the World Health Organization.
WHO said the man's wife fell ill on the subsequent repatriation flight to Johannesburg and died in the emergency department two weeks later. Testing later confirmed the woman was infected with hantavirus.
Contact tracing for passengers on that flight has since been initiated, according to WHO officials.
A third passenger, a British national, fell ill on April 24 and was medically evacuated to South Africa, where he remains hospitalized in an intensive care unit, WHO stated. Health officials said the man's laboratory test results came back positive for hantavirus.
A fourth passenger, a German woman, presented with pneumonia symptoms starting on April 28, according to WHO officials. The woman later died on May 2. Oceanwide Expeditions said the cause of death has not yet been established.
Cruise passengers have been told to stay in their cabins and practice strict hygiene protocols. The cruise line said disembarkation, medical evacuation or medical screening requires permission from and coordination with local and international health authorities.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Humans can contract hantavirus through contact with rodents including rats and mice, "especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva," the CDC states.
"There have been reported cases of human-to-human transmission of one of the hantavirus species, which is found in Argentina, so I think that that is part of the decision as well as the timeline that is emerging for asking the passengers to quarantine," Dr. Emily Abdoler, a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan told ABC News.
In a statement Tuesday, Oceanwide Expeditions said, "The medical evacuation of two individuals currently requiring urgent medical care, and the individual associated with the guest who passed away on 2 May, will occur using two specialized aircraft that are en route to Cape Verde. From here, the patients are to be medically evacuated to the Netherlands. At this stage, we do not have an exact timeline."
The cruise operator added that once the individuals had been "safely transferred from the vessel and are in transit to the Netherlands," the shop would begin repositioning.
"Our plan is to proceed to the Canary Islands, either Gran Canaria or Tenerife, which will take 3 days of sailing," it said. "Discussions are ongoing with relevant authorities. This will be shared when concrete plans are available."
Ângela Gomes, national director of health of Cape Verde, said in a statement Tuesday that a regional hospital has "prepared an area with isolation capacity, should it be necessary" moving forward.
"A dedicated team has been formed, with doctors, infectious disease specialists, nurses and laboratory technicians, to support patients on board and, if necessary, also on land," Gomes added.
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