Creator: Misper Apawu | Credit: AP

Public health authorities conducted global contact tracing on Thursday after cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions reported that 29 passengers disembarked following the onset of a hantavirus outbreak.

The company said the passengers disembarked the MV Hondius on April 24 in Saint Helena, more than three weeks after initially setting sail with 149 people from Ushuaia, Argentina, News.Az reports, citing UPI.

The guests left the ship the same day as the body of a Dutch guest who had died April 11 -- the first patient linked to the outbreak. The passenger's wife, who also disembarked April 24, also became ill and died April 26 after flying from Saint Helen to Johannesburg. She was the first confirmed case of hantavirus, which was announced Monday, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

A third person, from Germany, also died on board the ship Saturday.

"These disembarked guests have all been contacted by Oceanwide Expeditions," the company said in a statement Thursday. "We are working to establish details of all passengers and crew who embarked and disembarked on various stops of m/v Hondius since March 20.

Of those who left the ship April 24, seven were from Britain; six from the United States; three from the Netherlands; two each from Canada, Switzerland and Turkey; and one each from Germany, Denmark, Saint Kitts and Nevis, New Zealand, Singapore, and Sweden. Two had unknown nationalities.

In total, the World Health Organization said Thursday there have been eight cases of hantavirus -- three confirmed and five suspected -- linked to the MV Hondius, CNN reported. There have been three deaths, and four people were medically evacuated from the ship, one to South Africa on April 27 and three to the Netherlands for treatment Wednesday.

The Dutch Health Ministry also confirmed to NBC News that a flight attendant was hospitalized in the Netherlands and being tested for hantavirus. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said the Dutch woman who died from the virus was briefly on board one of its flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, but was removed from the plane before it took off.

It's unclear if the hospitalized flight attendant was also on the flight.

Hantavirus is typically spread from animals to humans, but the particular strain involved in this outbreak, the Andes strain, can be transmitted between humans. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that the incubation period of the virus is six weeks meaning it could take weeks for more cases to appear.

A representative for the Dutch government told CNN that one woman had taken herself to an Amsterdam hospital for testing after she was possibly exposed via the ship. Ghebreyesus said a Swiss passenger tested positive for hantavirus after leaving the ship and was being treated in Zurich.

"The patient had responded to an email from the ship's operator informing passengers of the health event," he said Wednesday.

The British government said two of its citizens were self-isolating after returning home from the cruise.

Meanwhile, the MV Hondius was en route from Cape Verde -- where it had anchored for multiple days hoping to allow passengers to disembark -- to the Canary Islands. The Spanish government announced Wednesday the ship could offload passengers and crew there, though the government of the Canary Islands expressed concern over the possible spread of the virus there.

Oceanwide Expeditions said the remaining passengers on board the ship were isolating in their cabins, which were also being disinfected. There were no reported illnesses on board as of Thursday.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli