Health authorities are investigating a cluster of severe respiratory illness cases linked to passengers aboard the international cruise ship MV Hondius, which carried around 150 tourists and travelled from Southern Argentina to the Canary Islands via several Atlantic and sub-Antarctic routes. The Department of Health said it was alerted by theNational Institute for Communicable Diseases(NICD) after a cluster of medical emergencies was reported as the vessel travelled through the South Atlantic and sub-Antarctic regions, passing a number of remote islands and nearing South African waters. Department spokesperson Foster Mohale confirmed that the situation triggered a coordinated international response involving multiple countries and health agencies.
Mohale said the first case involved a 70-year-old man who became ill while travelling between Ushuaia and St Helena, presenting with fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea before dying on arrival at St Helena Island. His remains are being held there pending repatriation to the Netherlands. He said the man’s wife later collapsed at OR Tambo International Airport while transiting through South Africa en route to the Netherlands.
She was taken to a health facility in Kempton Park but later died. Laboratory results in her case are still pending. A third patient, a British national, also fell ill during the voyage between St Helena and Ascension Island.
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Despite treatment, his condition worsened, and he was evacuated to a private hospital in Sandton, where he tested positive for Hantavirus, a rare but potentially severe rodent-borne virus. He added that the patient remains in critical condition in isolation and is receiving medical care.
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