Hantavirus patient zero visited landfill before boarding MV Hondius, reports say

Couple visited landfill in Argentina before boarding five-month cruise, reports say

The first person to die from Hantavirus on a cruise ship has been identified as Leo Schilperoord, a 70-year-old Dutch resident. Reports say he and his wife, Mirjam, visited a landfill outside Ushuaia hours before they boarded the MV Hondius for a five-month trip through South America.

Landfill exposure suspected

According to reporting cited by the New York Post, the couple visited a landfill outside Ushuaia on March 27. The site is described as popular with bird watchers but avoided by locals because of large heaps of rubbish. Authorities suspect the couple inhaled particles from the faeces of long-tailed pygmy rice rats, which are known to carry the Andes strain of the Hantavirus.

Illness and deaths linked to the voyage

The couple then boarded the MV Hondius. Schilperoord later developed a fever, headache and diarrhoea and died the following day. Mirjam disembarked from the ship in Santa Helena, where her husband’s body was taken. She was flown to Johannesburg and collapsed and died the next day.

Cases linked to the MV Hondius

Reports and health updates list multiple countries with cases linked to the cruise:

• Netherlands – Two deaths (Leo and Mirjam Schilperoord); a Dutch doctor was evacuated and remained stable while treated in isolation.
• Britain – Two confirmed infections and one probable case; a third British man disembarked and was treated in isolation on Tristan da Cunha.
• Germany – A German woman developed pneumonia after a fever and died.
• Switzerland – A Swiss man disembarked in St Helena and tested positive.
• France – A French woman tested positive.
• United States – One of 17 repatriated Americans tested mildly PCR positive while another had mild symptoms.

South African monitoring

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said Hantavirus is usually linked to rodent exposure in endemic countries and has been reported among travellers from the MV Hondius. The NICD emphasised the reported cases are associated with exposure outside South Africa and that health authorities are closely monitoring the situation.

What investigators are focusing on

Officials are focusing on the couple’s visit to the landfill as a likely site of exposure to the Andes strain, which is carried by certain rodents. Contact tracing and monitoring of passengers and crew from the voyage have been reported as part of the public-health response.