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 South Africa’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 UN’s health agency said, and it was working with authorities to evacuate two other passengers with symptoms from the ship.
Hantavirus, which is found throughout the world, is spread by contact with the urine or feces of infected rodents like rats and mice. The virus gained attention after the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus infection in New Mexico last year.
Hackman died around a week later at their home from heart disease.
Hantavirus can lead to serious respiratory illness, WHO said. The virus can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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