LIVE: WHO update on Hantavirus

Eight cases with three deaths confirmed

Five of eight cases are laboratory-confirmed as Andes virus, including three fatalities, among passengers of the MV Hondus cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Cape Verde.

Index cases traced to rodent exposure

The first two cases contracted the virus during a bird-watching excursion through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay where they visited areas inhabited by the rodent species known to carry Andes virus.

Limited person-to-person transmission

Andes virus spreads primarily through rodent contact but can transmit between humans during close, prolonged contact such as intimate household exposure or medical care, not through airborne routes like COVID-19.

Six-week incubation window

Given the virus's incubation period of up to six weeks, WHO expects additional cases may emerge among the remaining asymptomatic passengers and crew.

Risk assessment remains low

Despite severe disease outcomes and confirmed human-to-human transmission among close contacts, WHO assesses the overall public health risk as low for both ship passengers and Canary Islands residents.

Ship quarantined en route to Spain

Following Spain's acceptance of a formal IHR request from Prime Minister Sánchez, the MV Hondus is sailing to the Canary Islands where passengers are confined to disinfected cabins with WHO and ECDC experts monitoring health conditions.

Global contact tracing activated

WHO notified 12 countries whose nationals disembarked at St. Helena and shipped 2,500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to five countries to support surveillance of potentially exposed individuals.

Medical evacuations coordinated

Three severely ill patients were evacuated to hospitals in the Netherlands and South Africa, with one stable patient now in Germany and the South African ICU patient reported to be improving.