Three fatalities in Hantavirus outbreak on Dutch cruise ship.

Three people have died and a further five people have been infected in an outbreak of Hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 8 May 2026. The disease, which is caused by the Virus Orthohantavirus andesense, is a zoonotic disease (disease with a reserve in a wild Animal population which sometimes spreads to Humans) causing a hemorrhagic or pulmonary fever. It is not easily passed from Human-to-Human, but can do so when people are living together in close conditions in an environment such as a cruise ship.

The outbreak is thought to have begun with an 70-year-old male Dutch national who boarded the ship at Ushuaia, on the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego, on 1 April 2026, after spending three months touring Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. This patient developed symptoms at sea, and died on 11 April before the ship reached any port. He is considered a probable case, as no microbiological tests were carried out. 

The MV Hondius, a 106.7 m Polar Class 6 vessel, designed for luxury touring in polar regions with a minimal environmental impact, which was hit by Hantavirus outbreak in April and May 2026. Oceanwide Expeditions.

The second patient to develop the disease was the original patient's 69-year-old widow, who had been travelling with the first patient and joined the ship with him. She developed gastrointestinal symptoms at sea, and left the ship when it arrived at Saint Helena on 24 April, and flew to Johannesburg the following day, where she boarded a flight to Amsterdam, where her condition deteriorated rapidly, causing her to be removed from the plane and moved to a local hospital, where she died on 26 April. She was confirmed as being infected with Orthohantavirus andesense by polymerise chain reaction testing carried out by the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

The third patient, another adult male, started to show symptoms on 24 April, and was evacuated from the ship when it put into Ascension Island on 27 April. This patient was also airlifted to Johannesburg, where he is being treated in an intensive care unit. This patient was also confirmed as being infected with Orthohantavirus andesense by polymerise chain reaction testing.

A fourth patient, and adult female German national, developed a fever on 28 April, while the ship was sailing between Ascension Island and the Cape Verde islands, and died of pneumonia on 2 May, before the ship made it to port. This patient was later confirmed to have died of Hantavirus by post-mortem examination.

The fifth patient, the ship's doctor, began to develop symptoms on 30 April, and was confirmed as having Hantavirus by polymerise chain reaction testing when the ship reached Cape Verde on 6 May, and was airlifted to the Netherlands, where he is currently being treated in an isolation unit. 

The sixth patient, a guide employed on the ship, reported mild respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms on 27 April. He was also diagnosed with Hantavirus infection by polymerise chain reaction testing when the ship reached Cape Verde and airlifted to the Netherlands.

A seventh patient, who disembarked from the ship at St Helena on 22 April and flew home to Switzerland via South Africa and Qatar, began to show symptoms on 1 May. He immediately self-reported to medical authorities in Switzerland, and is now being treated in an isolation unit there.

An eighth patient, who disembarked from the ship at Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic on 14 April, began to show symptoms on 28 April. He is now being treated in isolation, although results of testing for the Virus have yet to be returned.

A ninth patient with Hantavirus-like symptoms was evacuated at Cape Verde and airlifted to Germany, but was later found not to be infected.  Efforts are still being made to trace 32 other patients who disembarked at Saint Helena and dispersed to a variety of countries before the nature of the outbreak was understood. After leaving Cape Verde the ship sailed to the Canary Islands, where it was met by medical personnel from the World Health Organization and a variety of countries, where both passengers and crew were screened for the Virus before being allowed to travel on to their home countries, where they will be required to undergo a period of isolation. A skeleton crew and medical personnel remained on the ship while it was sailed to the Netherlands to be thoroughly disinfected. 

Stops made by the MV Hondius during the outbreak. On 11 May, the ship was en route to Rotterdam. Wikipedia.

A flight attendant on the Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight from which the second patient was removed also later developed symptoms, and was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam. Two Singaporean nationals who had been on the ship and subsequent flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg were tested for the Virus after one developed Hantavirus-like symptoms, but neither was found to be infected. Attempts are still being made to trace passengers from both fights.

Hantavirus infections are caused by triple single-stranded negative-sense RNA Viruses of the genus Orthohantavirus. These Viruses are typically found in Rodents, with 28 species known, each of which infects a different species of Rodent. These Viruses occasionally jump species and infect Humans, where they break down into two groups, Old World Hantaviruses, which can cause a hemorrhagic fever accompanied by a severe kidney infection, and New World Hantaviruses, which cause a severe respiratory disease.

Structure of the Andes Hantavirus. Lexi Schoonover/Hope College/Wikimedia Commons.

The Andes Hantavirus, Orthohantavirus andesense, is found in Long-tailed Pygmy Rice Rats, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, a wild Rodent found in the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina, where it does not appear to produce any symptoms. It can be transmitted to Humans through the inhalation of  aerosols that contain rodent saliva, urine, or feces, through the consumption of contaminated food, or by being bitten or scratched by a Rat.

A Long-tailed Pygmy Rice Rat, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, the wild vector of the Andes Hantavirus. Yamil Hussain/Wikimedia Commons.

There is no effective treatment or vaccine for Hantavirus, and the disease is best prevented by using cleanliness and good hygiene to keep Rodents from entering Human dwellings or workplaces. If this fails a pest control consultant should be used to remove the Rodents. Placing infected patients in intensive care with fluids and, if necessary, artificial respiration, can help, but even with these precautions about 30% of patients typically die. Patients who have been infected with the disease and survive are generally immune to further infections with the same Virus.

See also...

Rypticus africanus: A new species of Soapfish from the eastern Atlantic.

Soapfish, Grammistes and Rypticus spp., are bottom-dwelling Perciform Fish related to Groupers, generally found on reefs and other rocky marine environments. They get their common name from their ability to secrete a toxic, soapy, mucus as a defence mechanism. The genus Grammistes is restricted to the Indo-Pacific region, while members of the genus Rypticus are found in the Western Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean. Only two species of Rypticus have been found on the African coast, the Greater Soapfish, Rypticus saponaceus, and the Spotted Soapfish, Rypticus subbifrenatus. The Greater Soapfish is known from both sides of the Atlantic being found from the coast of Florida, throughout the Caribbean, and as far south as Brazil in the western Atlantic, and from Mauritania south as far as Angola in the eastern Atlantic. However, a genetic study of museum specimens published in 2003 suggested that the eastern and western populations of the Greater Soapfish might in fact be separate species.

In a paper published in the Journal of Fish Biology on 21 July 2025, Gabriel Soares Araujo of the Center for Marine Biology at the University of São Paulo, Cláudio Sampaio of the Laboratório de Ictiologia e Conservação at the Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Luiz Rocha of the  Department of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, and Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Leite of the Departamento de Biologia Marinha at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, re-examine the genetics of the Greater Soapfish, and formally describe the populations from the African coast as a separate species.

Araujo et al. examined specimens from Cape Verde, Ghana, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Togo. All were found to be genetically distinct from western Atlantic specimens of Rypticus saponaceus, forming a distinct population which is estimated to have split from the west Atlantic population in the Early Pleistocene, about 2.5 million years ago, at the onset of the Pleistocene, and surprisingly being more closely related to the Pacific Rypticus bicolor. Since Rypticus saponaceus was originally described from specimens from Florida, the east Atlantic population is described as a new species, which Araujo et al. name Rypticus africanus.

Time-calibrated phylogeny of the genus Rypticus based on mitochondrial COI gene sequences. Values near the nodes represent estimated divergence times (Mya). The 95% highest posterior density intervals are shown in parentheses. Coloured circles represent the biogeographic regions where species of Rypticus are distributed. Vertical bars depict the results of lineage delimitation tests. Araujo et al. (2025).

Specimens of Rypticus africanus examined range from 112 to 215 mm in length, and have three dorsal fin spines, 22-24 dorsal fin rays, 15-17 anal fin rays, 16-18 pectoral fin rays, and 24-25 caudal (tail) fin rays. The head is distinctly pointed, the dorsal fin originates slightly posterior to upper end the of gill opening, and the tail is rounded. They are brown or dark grey in colour, with numerous pale round spots of variable size on their flanks.

(a)–(c) Rypticus africanus from São Tomé and Príncipe, illustrating the variation in colour pattern between individuals: (a) São Tomé Island, (b), (c) Príncipe Island and (d) Rypticus saponaceus from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, shown for comparison. Araujo et al. (2025).

Although Rypticus africanus has only been sampled from four areas (Cape Verde, Ghana, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Togo), Araujo et al. believe the name should be applied to all African populations currently described as Rypticus saponaceus, from Mauritania to Angola.

See also

Xenoliths in volcanic rocks from the Cape Verde Oceanic Plateau, and their implication for the structure of the Cape Verde volcanic system.

The Cape Verde Archipelago comprises ten islands and eleven seamounts arising from an oceanic plateau off the coast of West Africa. The volcanic rocks of the region are predominantly alkaline in nature, though a few of the volcanic centres are composed of felsic material. These rocks also contain a range of xenoliths, pieces of rock which are incorporated into volcanic deposits, but which are older in nature, pieces of evidence which can be crucial to the understanding of the structure and evolution of volcanic complexes.

In a paper published in the journal Minerals on 1 February 2019, Abigail Barker of the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, and the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Sciences, Thor Hansteen of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, and David Nilsson, also of the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, describe the results of a study of xenoliths from Cadamosto Seamount and the Charles Darwin Volcanic Field of the Cape Verde Archipelago by remote operated vehicle. The Cadamosto Seamount is a roughly 2000 m high, large, mature dominantly phonolitic seamount, whereas the Charles Darwin Volcanic Field is comprised of multiple small, young mafic to phonolitic eruption centres on the Cape Verde plateau.

(a) Location map of the Cape Verde archipelago, (b) shows the Cape Verde islands and bathymetry including certain seamounts. The oceanic plateau was extensively sampled by ROV dives and dredging during the Meteor M80/3 expedition to Cape Verde in January 2010. The stars mark the locations of xenolith bearing samples featured in this study. The southwestern star depicts the Cadamosto Seamount located at the southwest of the southern chain of volcanic islands. The other star marks the Charles Darwin Volcanic Field, which lies southwest of the northern volcanic island chain, on the lower submarine flank of Santo Antão. Barker et al. (2019).

The xenoliths found by Barker et al. cam from relatively evolved lavas such as phononephelinites and phonolites. Igneous rocks are considered to be 'evolved' if they have formed from the last phases of a liquid melt that slowly cooled, so that many minerals with high crystallisation temperatures have been lost from the melt earlier; such rocks tend to be dark, dense and hard, with high calcium, magnesium, and iron contents. Such rocks are consistent with magmas with deep origins, probably in the upper oceanic lithospheric mantle, beneath the Mohorovičić discontinuity (the boundary between the Earth's crust and its mantle).

The largest xenoliths found were quite large reaching up to 5 cm in diameter, and are thought to be of sedimentary origin, with clay minerals and distinctive layering, whereas others appear to be of igneous origin, derived from earlier deep Earth processes. These are composed of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, olivine and orthopyroxene crystals of roughly similar size (100 μm).

Photomicrographs of host lavas and xenoliths from Cape Verde. (A) Feldspathoids in a lava from the Charles Darwin Volcanic Field (Sample 068DR14). (B) Phononephelinite from the Cadamosto Seamount (Sample 035ROV10). (C) Sedimentary xenolith with fine grained detrital quartz, feldspar and biotite in a clay matrix. Note the 100 μ m contact zone with the lava. (Sample 035ROV10). (D) Clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and plagioclase bearing gabbro xenolith (Sample 068DR03). (E) Plagioclase and clinopyroxene in a gabbro xenolith (Sample 067ROV07) (XPL) (F) Olivine, clinopyroxene and plagioclase in a gabbro xenolith (Sample 068DR03) (XPL). (G) Xenolith contact with narrow rim on olivine and wide (100 μ m) rim on plagioclase (Sample 068DR14). (H) Finely recrystallized anorthoclase rim on xenolith plagioclase (Sample 068DR03) (XPL). Abbreviations: plag, plagioclase; ol, olivine; opx, orthopyroxene; cpx, clinopyroxene; di, diopside; aeg, aegirine; bt, biotite; no, nosean; ne, nepheline; le, leucite; sa, sanidine; ancl, anorthoclase. Barker et al. (2019).

Where the mineral olivine is present at the edges of xenoliths, it has begun to dissolve in the melt, then become a centre for the nucleation of clinopyroxene crystals. Barker et al. interpret this to suggest that the minerals had a surface temperature of about 1005°C, and the surrounding melt of about 1083°C, consistent with magma that was cooling during its ascent. The elemental composition of the clinopyroxene rims is similar to that of clinopyroxene in the surrounding matrix, confirming that they are derived from the melt rather than the xenoliths.
 
Barker et al. suggest that this is consistent with a model in which magmas from the lithospheric mantle rise up through oceanic crust gabbros and then shallower sedimentary rocks, collecting sedimentary xenoliths as they rise. Although these magmas are relatively well evolved, suggesting a long time interval between their formation by the melting of older rocks and their eruption at the surface, the presence of xenoliths acquired during their ascent implies that this ascent was fairly rapid, as a slow ascent would have given the xenoliths time to melt completely and be absorbed into the magma.

Schematic image of the lithospheric architecture beneath Cape Verde. The lavas crystallise clinopyroxene (cpx) in the oceanic lithospheric mantle, as they traverse the ocean crust they pick up xenoliths of ocean crust that have crystallised at crustal levels. Subsequently as magma ascent proceeds the magmas cross sediments evidenced by occasional sedimentary xenoliths, before eruption at submarine volcanic centres. Barker et al. (2019).

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Glaresis hespericula: A new species of Scarab Beetle from the Cape Verde Islands.

The Glaresidae are a family of small and rather uniform Scarab Beetles thought to be the sister group to all other Scarabs. They have a long fossil record, with seven known Mesozoic species in three separate genera. All modern members of the group are placed in a single genus, Glaresis, which currently contains 82 species, found on every major land-mass except Antarctica and Australia.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 23 October 2018, David Král and Lucie Hrůzová of the Department of Zoology at Charles University, describe a new species of Glaresis from Boa Vista Island in the Cape Verde group.

The species is named Glaresis hespericula, where ‘hespericula’ means a juvenile Hesperid. It is described from two specimens, one male and one female, collected from near Praia de Chavez. Both are robust, golden Beetles with a fine covering of short hairs. The male is 4.2 mm in length and the female 4.3 mm.

Glaresis hespericula, (1) male in dorsal view, (2) female in ventral view. Král & Hrůzová (2018) 

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Eruption on Mount Fogo, Cape Verde.

Authorities in the Cape Verde islands have oredered an evacuation of the sttlement of Chã das Caldeiras after Mount Fogo, an active volcano on Fogo Island, began erupting at about 10.00 am local time (about 11.00 am GMT) on Sunday 23 November 2014. Chã das Caldeiras lies within the caldera of Mount Fogo, making it highly vulnerable to eruptions; it is not clear if their have been any casualties as a result of the eruption. This is the first eruption on the volcano since April 1995.

Image of an ash coloumn over Mount Fogo seen from Praia on Santiago Islannd. RTC.

The entire island of Fogo is essentially the tip of a giant submarne volcano, reaching 2829 m above sea level and roughly 25 km across, with a 9 km diameter caldera in the center. The Cape Verde Islands are all volcanic in origin, sitting on a volcanic hotspot (an area where magma from deep inside the Earth is welling up through the overlying plate) located on the African Plate in the east Atlantic, roughly 600 km off the coast of Senegal.

See also...

Magnitude 4.2 Earthquake on the Cape St. Vincent Ridge, west of Portugal.

The United States Geological Survey has reported a Magnitude 4.2 Earthquake at a depth of 15 km on the Cape St. Vincent Ridge, about 300 km to the west of... 

Magnitude 5.4 Earthquake off the coast of El Hierro.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.4 Earthquake at a depth of 22.8 km roughly 31 km to the northwest of the island of El Hierro in the Canaries, slightly after 5.45 pm local time (which is GMT) on Friday 27 December 2013. There are no...

The floating stones of El Hierro.

 When volcanic activity began off the south coast of El Hierro, in the Canary Islands, in October 2010, it led to the production of large plumes of pumice-like rocks that floated on the surface of the ocean, producing a distinctive volcanic 'stain'. Pumice is a volcanic rock which contains large vesicles (sealed, gas filled cavities) which cause it to float on the water, which is formed by superheated magma coming into contact with seawater and is a common product of submarine eruptions. However closer...



Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.