The World Health Organization (WHO) has initiated a tracing operation to locate more than 80 passengers from a flight bound for Johannesburg on which one of the deceased from a hantavirus outbreak linked to the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius traveled.
According to the international organization, the passenger — a 69-year-old Dutch woman — was disembarked on April 24 on the island of Saint Helena with symptoms compatible with a gastrointestinal infection and boarded the next day on a flight operated by Airlink bound for South Africa. She died on April 26 in a Johannesburg hospital, and confirmation of hantavirus infection occurred later.
Possible transmission in a close contact setting
The WHO has indicated that it is investigating the possibility of transmission between people in very close contact, a hypothesis that raises health concerns around the case. In the same episode, the deceased's husband, 70, died aboard the cruise ship before she was evacuated.
The flight in question was carrying 82 passengers and six crew members, according to the South African airline Airlink. Health authorities have requested that all passengers who have not yet been located contact the South African Ministry of Health for epidemiological follow-up.
An outbreak spreading from the MV Hondius
The case is framed within the outbreak detected aboard the MV Hondius, an expedition vessel that was in South Atlantic waters. The WHO had already reported three deaths related to this focus of infection, while medical evacuations of passengers and crew continue in coordination with the Netherlands and Germany.
Authorities are working with the airline to reconstruct the flight's contact list and trace possible exposure chains, although for the moment no new confirmed cases have been detected outside the cruise environment.
Evacuations and international monitoring
The international response device continues active in the Cape Verde area, where the vessel remains anchored while sanitary evacuations and containment measures are organized. According to the WHO, the priority objective is to identify contacts, ensure medical follow-up and avoid possible new contagions in destination countries.
The case has reactivated the alert about the control of zoonotic diseases in closed environments such as cruises or long-distance flights, where contact traceability can be especially complex.