- Three suspected hantavirus patients evacuated from a cruise ship to Europe.
- The ship remains off Cape Verde with 150 onboard; three deaths confirmed.
- Contact tracing spans Europe and Africa; public health risk deemed low by the World Health Organization.
PRAIA, Cape Verde — Three patients with suspected hantavirus infections were being evacuated from a cruise ship to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said, as the vessel at the center of a deadly outbreak remained off Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board waiting to head to Spain's Canary Islands.
Eight cases have been recorded, three of them confirmed by laboratory testing, the World Health Organization said. Three people have died. One body remained on the ship, the WHO said.
Contact tracing had begun on at least two continents, Europe and Africa, in search of infections around people who earlier left the ship, which departed over a month ago from South America. Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though the WHO calls that rare.
Among the patients being evacuated was the ship's Dutch doctor, who had been in "serious condition" but has improved, Spain's health ministry said.
The Dutch foreign ministry said the three evacuated were a 56-year-old British national, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German national who would be "immediately transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe."
Two had presented acute symptoms, ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said. It said one had been "closely associated" with a passenger who died on May 2, a German woman.
Spanish officials said passengers and crew members left on the ship are without symptoms. The journey to the Canary Islands will take three or four days, Spain's health ministry said, adding that the arrival "won't represent any risk for the public."
Meanwhile, authorities in Switzerland said a former passenger of the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius was being treated at a Zurich hospital after testing positive for the Andes strain of the virus. South African authorities earlier said two passengers who were transferred there tested positive for that.
The wide-ranging ship has been at sea for over a month
The ship left Argentina on April 1. The WHO has said the itinerary included stops across the South Atlantic, including mainland Antarctica and the remote islands of South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension.
The ship is now in the Atlantic off West Africa's island nation of Cape Verde. The WHO said passengers were isolating in their cabins.
"At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Harald Wychgel, a spokesperson for the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, said two doctors were on their way to join the ship.
Spain's health ministry said it would receive the ship in the Canary Islands after a request from the WHO and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said he worried about the risk to the population and demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
South African tests confirm the Andes virus
South African health authorities said they identified the Andes strain of hantavirus in two passengers who had been transferred there.
One, a British man, was in intensive care. The other collapsed and died in South Africa and tests were performed posthumously.
The WHO says the Andes virus, a specific species of hantavirus, is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile. It can spread between people, though that's rare and only through close contact, such as by sharing a bed or food.
It's not clear when the patient in Switzerland left the ship
The Swiss health office initially said the patient there "returned from a trip to South America" with his wife in late April. Spokesperson Simon Ming clarified in an email that the patient left the ship during its St. Helena stop.
It was not immediately clear when or how he returned to Switzerland. The cruise company previously said the woman who died in South Africa was flown there from St. Helena, and it was not clear if the man left the ship at the same time.
The patient's wife hasn't shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution, the statement said. Health experts say the incubation period for the virus is 45 days.
"There is currently no risk to the Swiss public," the public health office said, while looking into whether the patient came into contact with others while infectious.
South Africa looks for people who had possible contact
The cruise company says that at St. Helena, the body of the Dutch man suspected to be the first hantavirus case on board was taken off the ship. His wife left St. Helena and flew to South Africa, where she died.
The company says a British man was later evacuated at Ascension Island and taken to South Africa. It has not said if other people left at those or other locations.
The South African health ministry said officials had traced 42 out of 62 people, including health workers, who they believe had contact with the two infected passengers who traveled there. Those 42 tested negative for hantavirus.
But 20 people still needed to be traced, including five people who may have been on flights to South Africa with some of the passengers, as well as flight crew members. Some may have now traveled overseas, the ministry said.
Contributing: Renata Brito, Joseph Wilson, Geir Moulson, Mike Corder, Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome
