{"id":2000111488,"date":"2026-05-10T17:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000111488"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:01:38","slug":"rwanda-health-authorities-monitor-hantavirus-outbreak-linked-to-cruise-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwanda-health-authorities-monitor-hantavirus-outbreak-linked-to-cruise-ship\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda health authorities monitor Hantavirus outbreak linked to cruise ship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ship docked in Tenerife, Spain, on Sunday as authorities began evacuating nearly 150 passengers and crew members in a tightly controlled international operation coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Spanish authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the WHO, at least eight people aboard the vessel fell ill during the voyage, with six cases confirmed as Andes virus hantavirus infections. Three passengers, including a Dutch couple and a German national, died from the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outbreak has drawn global attention because the Andes virus is the only known strain of hantavirus capable of limited person-to-person transmission, although experts say such spread is rare and usually requires prolonged close contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rwanda Biomedical Centre said on Sunday that health officials are closely monitoring the situation while continuing public awareness efforts on prevention and early detection. The centre is Rwanda\u2019s national health implementation agency, responsible for disease prevention, public health surveillance, diagnostics, and coordinating health programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRwanda\u2019s health authorities are closely monitoring the situation regarding the #Hantavirus disease, which has recently been reported in some countries,\u201d RBC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RBC explained that hantaviruses are primarily transmitted between animals and humans, with wild rodents serving as the main carriers. Infection typically occurs when people inhale airborne particles from contaminated rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RBC also noted that the Andes virus linked to the cruise ship outbreak can, in rare cases, spread between humans through close and prolonged contact, particularly among household members or healthcare workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO officials have classified all passengers and crew aboard the MV Hondius as \u201chigh-risk contacts\u201d and recommended active health monitoring for 42 days after disembarkation, despite no new symptomatic cases being reported during the evacuation phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passengers leaving the vessel were screened for symptoms before boarding repatriation flights to their home countries. Some were transported wearing face masks and protective gear as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spanish authorities stressed that the evacuation operation posed \u201cvery low\u201d risk to the general public, a position echoed by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who reassured residents in Tenerife that \u201cthis is not another Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health experts say early symptoms of hantavirus infection may include fever, headaches, chills, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain. In severe cases, the disease can progress into respiratory complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MV Hondius is expected to continue to the Netherlands after all passengers are evacuated and health protocols completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Dutch-flagged hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius arrives at the industrial port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda\u2019s health authorities are closely monitoring developments surrounding a hantavirus outbreak linked to the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, following international concern after several passengers died from the rare disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000111490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151,70],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000111488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-home-ighlight","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000111490,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1760,"height":1174,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","width":1024,"height":683},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/download-15.jpg","width":1760,"height":1174}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000111488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000111491,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000111488\/revisions\/2000111491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000111490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000111488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000111488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000111488"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000111488"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000111488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}