Bay Area resident exposed to hantavirus aboard MV Hondius cruise ship

A Bay Area resident who was exposed to Andes hantavirus on a cruise ship is back home, public health officials confirmed Sunday. The individual was on board the MV Hondius but departed before health officials determined a passenger’s death was due to hantavirus. 

Read more Houston’s Carlos Correa undergoes season-ending surgery for torn left ankle tendon

“There is no known risk to the public at this time,” the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department told SFGATE in a statement. 

Santa Clara County public health officials are “monitoring and evaluating” the resident who was exposed to Andes hantavirus while on board the vessel. “No other information will be released about the individual in accordance with medical privacy laws,” the department said. 

The eyes of the world are trained on the MV Hondius, a Dutch cruise ship from Oceanwide Expeditions, a company that provides Arctic and Antarctic sailings. In early April, the ship left Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city on Earth and a common departure point for Antarctica excursions. Scheduled stops included Antarctica and several isolated South Atlantic Ocean islands.

On April 11, a 70-year-old Dutch ornithologist died on board, but cruise staff initially believed he had died of natural causes. On April 24, his widow accompanied his body off the cruise ship at the island of Saint Helena. While boarding a flight home, the woman began experiencing a major medical emergency and was taken off the plane and to a hospital; she died later that day. 

Around that time, a third passenger of the MV Hondius fell ill and was evacuated to South Africa for treatment; that individual, a British national, tested positive for Andes hantavirus and is in critical but stable condition. On May 2, a fourth passenger, a German woman, died on the ship. The ship is currently in port in Tenerife, where passengers are disembarking and returning home on flights; about 140 people are on board. 

Dozens of people left the ship about two weeks after a passenger died, but before authorities knew a hantavirus was the culprit. They were from at least 12 different countries, including from several states in the U.S. — including Arizona, California, Georgia and Texas, according to infectious disease experts and state public health officials. The U.S. government has released few details about its work on any contact tracing.

Read more Oakland’s First Fridays festival could end after sponsors pull support

In a press release, the California Department of Public Health said “at least one other” California resident is still on board the MV Hondius.

“Unlike influenza and COVID-19, years of experience in South America have shown that this Andes hantavirus rarely spreads between people,” CDPH Director Dr. Erica Pan said.

The Andes virus, a member of the hantavirus family found in South America, may be one of the rare hantaviruses that can spread between people. Officials in Argentina believe the first cases may have been contracted on a birdwatching trip in the southern city of Ushuaia.

The variant is different from the Sin Nombre hantavirus, which is native to North America and recently made international headlines when actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home.

Scientists are trying to learn exactly how the Andes virus spreads, said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. They believe people are mainly infectious when they have symptoms, and, if the virus spreads, it may be transmitted through small liquid particles that blow out of an infected person when they talk, cough or sneeze.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.