- A 69-year-old Dutch man fell ill on 6 April and died at sea on 11 April; his 69-year-old wife, who had gastric symptoms, went ashore at Saint Helena, flew to Johannesburg on 25 April, was removed from a KLM flight to Amsterdam, and died on 26 April.
- At least three people have died; four are being treated in hospitals in South Africa.
- The National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed Andes hantavirus, the only hantavirus with human-to-human transmission.
- For more, click HERE.
Even after a Dutch man had died and his wife and another passenger had fallen ill, no one on the luxury Dutch Arctic ship, the MV Hondius, suspected they might be dealing with a deadly infectious disease.
As a result, at least 30 passengers, including the ailing Dutch woman and her husband’s body, went ashore on the island of Saint Helena to catch a passenger flight to OR Tambo International Airport.
SA Airlink was unaware that many of the 88 people on that flight had disembarked from an infected vessel. South African authorities were also not alerted to take precautions.
From Johannesburg, the passengers flew on to, among other places, the US, Spain, Britain, Singapore, Australia and Turkey.
READ: EXPLAINER | What is hantavirus, the disease that has killed 3 cruise ship passengers?
Back on the MV Hondius, a nightmare awaited the other passengers as more people fell ill and died from what has since been diagnosed as the deadly Andes hantavirus, an infectious disease with a mortality rate of about 30%.
The cruise, costing about R115 000 to R300 000 per person, took them to some of the most remote places on earth to see, among other things, birdlife and glaciers.
By Saturday, three people were dead, and four more were being treated in hospitals in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). A British man was also being held in isolation on the island of Tristan da Cunha with suspected hantavirus.
According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch shipowner, 114 guests set sail on 1 April from the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia.
Argentine health authorities established that the Dutch couple – the first fatalities – had travelled through South America for months before boarding, apparently in good health.
The Dutchman (69) fell ill on 6 April and died at sea on 11 April.
The next day, the ship’s captain informed the other passengers of his death and said it was due to natural causes.
“The ship’s doctor assured me that it isn’t infectious, so the ship is safe,” he says in a video of the announcement that was circulated on social media by a Turkish influencer, Ruhi Çenet.
On 15 April, six other passengers boarded at Tristan da Cunha, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.
According to the WHO’s timeline, the Dutch woman (69) had gastric symptoms when the ship dropped anchor on 24 April – about two weeks after the man’s death – and she went ashore at Saint Helena. On the same day, a Briton presented to the ship’s doctor with fever, shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia.
READ: Andes hantavirus strain likely culprit in Dutch couple’s death, says Motsoaledi
The next day, 25 April, the sick Dutch woman and at least 30 other Hondius passengers boarded the SA Airlink flight.
“At the time when the flight was operated, Airlink was unaware that any of the passengers were unwell,” said Karin Murray, SA Airlink spokesperson.
The Dutch woman landed in Johannesburg the same day. OR Tambo International Airport conducts temperature screenings for international arrivals, but the sick woman still passed through the system.
South African authorities were not warned that a sick Dutch national was en route here, said Foster Mohale, spokesperson for Aaron Motsoaledi, the minister of health.
The passenger went through the temperature screening, but it was not picked up as high. There could be many reasons, one of which is that she may have taken medication for a fever.
Foster Mohale
According to Mohale, the matter is being investigated.
The woman then boarded a KLM flight that departed for Amsterdam at 11.15pm.
“Due to the passenger’s medical condition at that time, the crew decided not to allow her to remain on the flight,” a KLM statement read. “After she was removed from the flight, it departed for the Netherlands.”
The woman collapsed at the airport and was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital, the Arwyp clinic in Kempton Park.
According to Dr Estelle Le Roux, staff in their emergency department always wear protective gear. “Given the patient’s respiratory condition, she was promptly accommodated in an isolation cubicle within the emergency department.”
The woman died on April 26 in the emergency department, while the other Hondius passengers departed from OR Tambo to destinations around the world.
The ship sailed from Saint Helena to Ascension Island as the Briton’s condition worsened. He and his American companion were evacuated on a medical flight from Ascension Island to South Africa on 27 April.
City Press’ sister publication Rapport has reliably learnt that Sandton Mediclinic, where he is now in the ICU under isolation, was not informed of the lead-up to his admission.
“Mediclinic can confirm that a patient was admitted to one of our facilities for urgent care and subsequently tested positive,” said Nokuzola Plaatjie, Mediclinic’s spokesperson.
READ: SA Health Dept urges calm as hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship kills Dutch couple
Specialists from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) were able, by 2 May, to determine from the Briton’s blood tests that he had hantavirus. On the same day, a German tourist on the ship died.
With the confirmation of the disease, the NICD and South African health authorities contacted all institutions where the sick and deceased had contact with other people.
A few days later, South African scientists confirmed it is the Andes strain, the only hantavirus that can spread between humans.
People contract the other hantavirus strains from rodent urine and droppings, and those diseases do not occur in Africa.
Fears that the world was facing another pandemic flared up, and the authorities of the Cape Verde Islands – where the MV Hondius was headed – refused to allow passengers to disembark.
Another three passengers, including the British ship’s doctor, have since fallen ill. They were evacuated on Wednesday under strict isolation conditions at the Cape Verde islands and taken to the Netherlands. Four medical personnel from Italy and the Netherlands boarded.
According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship is due to arrive this morning in Tenerife – the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands – where preparations are being made to evacuate the 147 people on board under isolation and send them to their countries of origin.
“Passengers will be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in sealed, guarded vehicles, through a completely cordoned-off corridor,” said Dr Redros Ghebreyesus, WHO chief.
In the meantime, passengers remain in their cabins and are allowed to get fresh air on the decks one by one.
“The situation on board is calm and everyone is following the medical team’s guidelines,” said Oceanwide Expeditions. No one on board currently has symptoms.
So far, no hantavirus cases have been confirmed among people who were not on the ship itself.
A KLM flight attendant who helped the deceased woman was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam with flu-like symptoms but tested negative for the virus.
“This is not the next Covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr Maria van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, last week. “It is a serious disease, but it is nowhere near as easily transmissible as Covid-19 or influenza.”
Van Kerkhove praised the South African scientists who worked lightning-fast to identify the virus.
READ: Hantavirus human-to-human transmission risk ‘very low’ – virology expert
“As far as is known, the virus is not highly contagious, but we will only be able to measure the exact impact in a few weeks thanks to the virus’ long incubation period,” a South African specialist told Rapport.
A person can test negative within a week or three after contact with the virus because the viral load is still low. Only at the end of the maximum incubation period of about eight weeks can we say with certainty that the person did not contract the virus.
Specialist
The specialist also warns that flu season is at hand, so people should not panic if they develop symptoms. Symptoms of hantavirus include fever, headache, body aches, dizziness, nausea, diarrhoea and stomach pain.
Meanwhile, authorities are also monitoring four South Africans who were on the flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg.
Oceanwide Expeditions did not respond to media queries about the events.
