A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and H’s Department of Health said Sunday.
In a statement to The Associated Press, WHO said an investigation was underway but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the U.N. health agency said, and it was working with authorities to evacuate two others with symptoms from the ship. The Dutch company that operates the cruise said the ship was now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation off Africa’s west coast, and local authorities were assisting but had not allowed anyone to disembark.
Read more…
Source: AP News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- South Africa: A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic kills 3 people
May 4, 2026
A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and H’s Department of Health said Sunday. In a statement to The Associated Press, WHO said an investigation was underway but that ...
- Ethiopia: Marburg virus disease update
January 26, 2026
On 26 January 2026, the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia declared the end of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak. This declaration came after two consecutive incubation periods (a total of 42 days) since the last person confirmed with MVD died and was given a safe and dignified burial, in accordance with WHO recommendations on ...
- Romania confirms first leprosy cases in over 40 years, two more under investigation
December 12, 2025
Romania has confirmed its first case of leprosy in more than 40 years, with three other suspected cases currently under clinical and microbiological investigation, health minister Alexandru Rogobete announced on Thursday, December 11. All four individuals are women from Asia who were employed as masseuses at a spa salon in Cluj-Napoca. The first two patients, aged ...
- Washington: Patient dies of complications after contracting H5N5 avian influenza
November 22, 2025
A Washington resident died of complications from an infection with a bird flu strain never before reported in humans, the state Department of Health said on Friday. The patient was an older adult with underlying health conditions who had been hospitalized and undergoing treatment for infection with H5N5 avian influenza. It’s the first reported case of ...
- Ethiopia confirms first outbreak of Marburg virus disease
November 14, 2025
Ethiopia has confirmed its first outbreak of Marburg virus disease, after nine cases were reported in the south of the country. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday commended the Ethiopian Health Ministry and other health agencies for their “rapid and transparent response to the outbreak”. The confirmation comes a day after the ...
- DR Congo: A new Ebola outbreak kills dozens as health officials warn of lack of funds
September 25, 2025
As a deadly new Ebola outbreak kills dozens in southern Congo, health authorities and organizations are sounding the alarm, warning they lack the funds and resources to mount an effective response to the crisis. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that 57 cases and 35 deaths have been reported since the outbreak was announced by Congolese ...
- Uganda: Ebola cases in rise to 9, while 265 others are being monitored under quarantine
February 11, 2025
Ebola cases in Uganda have risen to nine, while 265 other people were being monitored under quarantine, health authorities said Tuesday. The nine include the first victim, a male nurse who died the day before the outbreak was declared on Jan. 30. That man remains the only fatality. Eight patients “are receiving medical care and are ...
- Uganda confirms new Ebola outbreak
January 30, 2025
Uganda has confirmed an outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (SUDV) in the capital city of Kampala. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Health today following positive tests from three National Reference Laboratories. “Our rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the ...
- California declared an emergency over bird flu
December 19, 2024
California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species. The virus, also known ...
- Investigation launched into Queensland lab breach, with vials of Hendra virus, lyssavirus and hantavirus missing
December 9, 2024
Nearly 100 live samples of the deadly Hendra virus have been lost in a biosecurity bungle at a state-run Queensland laboratory. An investigation has been launched after it was revealed 323 virus samples went missing from Virology Laboratory in 2021 in a “major breach” of biosecurity protocol, Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced on Monday. The material, ...
- Wuhan lab samples hold no close relatives to virus behind COVID
December 9, 2024
After years of rumours that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory in China, the virologist at the centre of the claims has presented data on dozens of new coronaviruses collected from bats in southern China. At a conference in Japan this week, Shi Zhengli, a specialist on bat coronaviruses, reported that none of ...
- DR Congo: Unknown flu-like disease kills at least 79 people
December 4, 2024
At least 79 people have died from an unknown disease that is causing flu-like symptoms in south-western Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry says. The health ministry says the majority of people who have died are between the ages of 15 and 18. More than 300 people have been infected with patients exhibiting symptoms like ...
- WHO says mpox remains public health emergency of international concern
November 22, 2024
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it will keep its alert for mpox at the highest level amid a surge in cases. A WHO committee made up of about a dozen independent experts made the decision at a meeting in Geneva on Friday, three months after the WHO first declared a public health emergency of ...
- UK: NHS staff ‘may have treated Covid with poor PPE’
November 20, 2024
A former Welsh health minister has said that NHS staff may have treated Covid patients during the pandemic with inadequate PPE. Former first minister Vaughan Gething, who was in charge of the health service from 2016 to 2021, returned to the Covid inquiry to give evidence on Wednesday. The inquiry heard that early PPE stocks ran ...
- UK: Two new cases of Clade lb mpox detected
November 5, 2024
Two new cases of a strain of mpox that is thought to be more transmissable have been detected in the UK, the Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said. This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Clade lb mpox strain in the country to three. The new cases are household contacts of the first ...