Hantavirus Outbreak On MV Hondius Cruise Leaves 3 Dead; Doctors Warn Of Dengue Confusion

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]IC story which has captured the imagination of the entire globe. This is a luxury cruise ship which is stranded tonight in the Atlantic Ocean. Three passengers are dead, eight others affected. The culprit, a virus so rare that most doctors have never seen a single case in their careers. This is the Hanta virus. The strain on the ship is the Andes strain which can pass from human to human but only we are told through prolonged intimate physical contact not through the air in a crowded room like CO not by sitting near only through the kind of closeness you share with a spouse a cabin mate or even a doctor treating you without protection.

[00:00:51]Now, so what exactly happened here?

[00:00:53]Where the ship, where is the ship right now and whether India needs to worry?

[00:00:58]Let's break it up for you. Now, the ship is MV Hondas. It's a Dutch uh expedition vessel that left the southern tip of Argentina on the 1st of April. There were 149 passengers on board and crew from 23 different countries. Now, somewhere on the journey, a killer came on board.

[00:01:20]Argentinian investigators believe the source was a bird watching tour in one of those people who had gone there to the southernmost city on Earth. And the Dutch couple on the tour most likely inhaled the microscopic particles from infectant rodent dropping on the ground.

[00:01:41]They felt fine. They boarded the ship as well. They had absolutely no idea what had happened. But on April 11th, the Dutch man died on board that cruise ship. His body stayed on the ship for nearly two weeks. His wife then fell ill as well. And both of them were evacuated to South Africa and she in fact collapsed at the Johannesburg airport and died there. Then there was a German passenger. He died on the 2nd of May and by then the World Health Organization had been alerted and the ship was ordered to stop at Cape Pu.

[00:02:23]As of tonight, the ship has left that port and is heading towards Spain's Canary Islands. There are three critically ill patients who have been evacuated by air ambulances. The remaining passengers disembark on the 11th of May.

[00:02:42]And at the moment, health authorities across Europe are racing to trace over 80 passengers who shared a commercial flight with one of the victims before she was even diagnosed.

[00:02:57]Now, the WHO has come out with several posts on this. Dr. Ted Ross has written one and let me bring that to you. He says, "At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low." Then there is also one by who epidemic lead Dr. Maria who goes on to say that uh WHO's epidemic lead spelled out that uh the exactly what humanto human transmission means in this case. She went on to say that when we say close contact we mean very close physical contact sharing a bunk room sharing a cabin or sort of providing medical care. So it is not like co but she also mentions that of the 149 people living together on one ship for weeks at the moment only eight have fallen ill that we know of. The rest were not at risk at the moment we got to know but are potentially being scanned for as a lot of them left and you know sort of left at different other stations that were that were coming across. Now h virus lives inside rodents remember right that that's like rats mice wolves as well the animal carries it without any symptom but when they're dropping and urine sort of if even dry parts of it are out and become airborne dust the virus can be lethal to humans that's where it transfers you do not need to touch the animal you just need to breathe the wrong air in the wrong place in Asia and Europe including India the virus us attacks the kidneys.

[00:04:32]It's said to be serious but sort of survivable at the moment. In America, the virus has a different impact. It destroys lungs. Now, this particular strain on the ship is the American variety. So, we are as Asians relatively at lesser risk. In severe cases, the fatality rate reaches 50%.

[00:04:54]In severe cases, remember 50% people who get the virus die. Stage two symptom also comes in from that. But before I go into that, let's start with what exactly are the symptoms over here. Okay. Now it starts with a flu, goes to a fever, goes to a headache, there is a muscle ache, sometimes nausea as well. Then in severe cases, this sort of turns very fast and the lungs fill up with fluid. There is breathing failure and the body goes into a shock. mild symptoms to ICU in under 72 hours and the incubation period as well. So the incubation period the gap between exposure and first symptom can be anywhere from 1 week to 8 weeks which is what makes it so dangerous.

[00:05:42]That long tail is exactly why tracing contacts is so difficult when it comes to this particular virus. Also there is no vaccine there is no specific drug there is only a treatment in intensive supportive care just like we used to have in COVID oxygen fluids roundthe-clock monitoring the patients uh who survived in the MB sort of hunds were those who reached hospitals quickly now in this disease speed is the only medicine like in case of any virus that we have seen and we now know because of our covid experiences as well but the important Important part here is after having all this information should India be alarmed.

[00:06:24]Now the good news over here is that this is not an outbreak situation just yet.

[00:06:33]This cruise virus is currently at the moment a contained event but the situation is rapidly changing.

[00:06:41]South American origin, European passengers heading to Spain and all of those people have to be tracked. But like we said, the incubation period is so long that it could be weeks before the first symptom even comes.

[00:06:56]There has been no outbreak in Asia at least. What we are now looking for and we've urged for more information to be provided is the list of passengers to see if any Indian was actually on board.

[00:07:06]We haven't got that list so far. But what is going to happen next on this?

[00:07:11]Let's tell you a little bit about that.

[00:07:13]Now when this cruise docks in about three and a half days, the passengers will be assessed. All the passengers will be assessed. The ship will be disinfected. The contacts will be traced. For an average Indian watching this right now, please remember the risk to us is low right now.

[00:07:34]But this outbreak, like any other virus outbreak, is a reminder. The world's most dangerous pathogens, they don't need a passport. They travel with us.

[00:07:46]And in a breath of dust or a forest trail or a ship crossing the Atlantic, vigilance is important. Remember, vigilance is not panic. Vigilance is the knowledge, knowing what the right thing to do is. And also in India's case remember because we've had so many pre-monsoon showers this time around and because that has led to up in deni cases which at least Delhi is seeing Delhi at the moment is seeing deni cases which have been at the peak compared to past 5 years we've never had so many deni cases and why I'm bringing up deni right now is because deni symptoms and hanta virus are very very similar so a lot of doctors sometimes confuse so please ask Ask your doctor. Don't just ask your AI or GPT about it.