The 33-day ‘Atlantic Odyssey’ that turned Into a Hantavirus nightmare
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The day before the MV Hondius’s latest sailing, the crew of the merchant vessel gathered for dinner in Ushuaia, the Argentine resort town known as the gateway to Antarctica.“One Table, Nine Nations, One Epic Journey,” chef Khabir Moraes posted on Instagram on March 31.The Oceanwide Expeditions cruise is now enmeshed in a deadly hantavirus outbreak. Three people have died and at least five more have been infected. Health authorities and airlines are racing to control further spread of the virus.Infections are a risk on cruises given the close quarters.
A doctor was on board the Hondius. Its infections were especially unlikely, however, involving a rodent-borne pathogen that rarely spreads from human to human but did on a vessel carrying fewer than 150 passengers.“The fact that it happened in a cruise ship with people from different nationalities is something that we haven’t seen before,” Anaïs Legand, a technical lead for viral hemorrhagic fevers at the World Health Organization, said during a press briefing Thursday.The Hondius was far from the Love Boat. Its passengers were largely a dedicated group of nature enthusiasts, interested in seeing fur seals and migratory birds.The ship itself is built to navigate frigid waters featuring hulking chunks of ice.
The sailing was set to take passengers to remote islands from the South Atlantic to Cape Verde. Fares cost up to nearly $29,000 a person. Included were neoprene muck boots and snowshoes.
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