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.

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Two English 'Lamb of God' coins discovered in Denmark.

Two 'Lamb of God' coins issued by the English King Æthelred the Unready around the year 1009 AD have been discovered in Denmark, according to a press release issued by the National Museum of Denmark on 29 April 2026. The coins were both uncovered by metal detectorists, one in the north of Jutland and one in the south.

An English 'Lamb of God' coin discovered by a metal detectorist in northern Jutland. Søren Greve/National Museum of Denmark.

The Lamb of God coins were a special edition coin produced by Æthelred the Unready as part of an attempt to obtain divine protection for his kingdom, along with a series of religious ceremonies, fasts, and penances. Unlike regular Saxon coins, which typically had the king's head on one side and a cross on the other, they had a 'Lamb of God' sign on one side, which comprised a Lamb pierced by a cross, a symbol for Jesus, and a Dove on the other, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

An English 'Lamb of God' coin discovered by a metal detectorist in southern Jutland. Søren Greve/National Museum of Denmark.

The crisis which provoked these measures was the invasion of England by Viking raiders, mostly from Denmark. However, this was did not prove to be an effective method of defence, with southern England being ravaged by the armies of Thorkell the Tall between 1009 and 1013, and Sweyn Forkbeard launching a full-scale invasion in 1013 which forced Æthelred into exile. Sweyn Forkbeard died in 1014, allowing Æthelred to briefly regain his thrown, though he lost it again in 1016 to Sweyn's son, Cnut.

While the coins failed to save Æthelred's reign, they were apparently very popular with the invading Vikings. Of the 30 known examples, only 4-5 have been found in England, with the remainder discovered in Scandinavian and Baltic countries, the majority with piercings which suggest the Vikings wore them as pendants.

Having conquered England in 1016, Cnut succeeded to the throne of Denmark in 2018, following the death of his brother Harald II. In 1026 Olaf Haraldsson, King of Norway, mounted an invasion of Denmark while Cnut was in England, starting a series of wars which led to Olaf's death in 1030, and Cnut installing his wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, as regent of Norway. 

Having unified England, Denmark, and Norway into a single state (referred to as the North Sea Empire by modern historians), Cnut set about consolidating and unifying his empire. This included the introduction of silver coinage on the English model to Denmark and Scandinavia. Prior to this, coins had not been directly used as legal tender in this area, silver measured by weight used as the standard medium of exchange. However, the innovation appears to have been quickly adopted, with coins accepted as an easier way to do business.

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Evidence for subduction-related metamorphism on the coast of Scotland during the Mesoarchean-to-Neoarchean transition.

Plate tectonics are a fundamental part of the Earth's geological system, providing a means by which the planet is able to shed heat from its interior. Under this system crustal deformation and magmatism are generally confined to the margins of the lithospheric plates, with the otherwise stiff plates are weakened, softened, and recycled into the the Earth's mantle along subduction zones, while new crustal material is formed at seafloor spreading zones. As far as we know, plate tectonics are only found on Earth, which has led to speculation that the process may have been essential for the creation of conditions for life, or at least complex life. As such when and how the plate tectonics came about is of great interest to scientists. 

Potential dates for the origin of plate tectonics range from the Hadean Eon, more than four billion years ago, to the early Neoproterozoic, less than one billion years ago. However, finding evidence to support such hypotheses has proven difficult. The ideal geological evidence for plate tectonics would be metamorphic structures such as eclogites (associated with the shallow subduction of oceanic crust) or blueschists (associated with the deep subduction of crustal material) formed under a low temperature/pressure (thermobaric) regime, ideally less than 375 °C/GPa (apparently similar rocks formed under higher tthermobaric regimes are presumed to have formed due to different conditions). The oldest known ecglogites are found in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are about 2.1 billion years old, while the oldest known blueschists are found in China, and are only 750-800 million years old.

Thus if plate tectonics was occurring during the Archaean (between 4 and 2.5 billion years ago), then there is a surprising lack of evidence for it.

In a paper published in the journal Geology on 1 January 2026, Meiyun Huang of the State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the College of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shujuan Jiao, also of the State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tim Johnson, Chris Clark, and Jie Yu, of the Curtin Frontiers Institute for Geoscience Solutions at Curtin University, Guangyu Huang, again of the State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Jinghui Guo, once again of the State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the College of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, present of a study of a section of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex on the northwest coast of Scotland, which they date to about 2.8 billion years ago, and which they suggest was formed under temperature and pressure conditions consistent with a subductive plate margin setting.

Gneisses are course-grained metamorphic rocks which show distinct banding, but which do not tend to cleave along those bands. They typically form at temperatures in excess of 300°C and pressures of between 0.2 and 1.5 GPa, and can be derived from both igneous and sedimentary source rocks. The Lewisian Gneiss Complex is a grey gneiss terrane which has yielded magmatic ages of between 3.1 and 2.8 billion years. This includes layers of ultramafic–mafic rock interlayered with a layered garnet-biotite rock known as the brown gneiss, which is thought to have originally been of sedimentary or volcanosedimentary origin.

Rocks from the Lewisian Gneiss Complex on the Scottish mainland have previously been shown to date from the Neoarchean (2.8-2.5 billion years ago) and to have been formed at temperatures in excess of 900°C, although the pressure at which these rocks formed has been harder to determine, with estimates for peak pressure ranging from about 0.8 GPa to more than 1.5 GPa. There are also two proposed interpretations on the timeline over which these rocks formed, with one proposing two distinct metamorphic episodes, one between 2.8 and 2.7 billion years ago, and the other at about 2.5 billion years ago, and the other proposing a single extended metamorphic event lasting about 200 million years. 

(A) Simplified geological map of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex in northwest Scotland. Inset shows location of the Complex. (B) Geological map of the Scourie area in the Assynt terrane showing the location of the studied sample. (C) Outcrop of the studied sample (SC18-02; migmatitic aluminosilicate-bearing metasedimentary rock; 58°21′45″N, 5°09′49″W). Huang et al. (2026).

One possible interpretation is that the Garnet-rich fragments found within the ultramafic–mafic bodies represent retrogressed eclogites (metamorphic rocks which have recrystallised into their current form in response to the lowering of the temperature and pressure from the conditions in which they originally formed) which may have been heated to temperatures as high as 1040–1060°C and exposed to pressures as high as 2.2-2.4 GPa around 2.5 billion years ago, which would imply deep subduction during the late Neoarchaean. An alternative possibility is that they represent xenoliths, fragments of pre-existing rock which became incorporated into  surrounding rock during the emplacement of a volcanic basalt or gabro.

Huang et al. analysed samples taken from a migmatitic aluminosilicate-bearing metasedimentary rock within the Lewisian Gneiss Complex, looking at the mineral phases formed by oxides of sodium, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, aluminium, silicon and titanium, all of which from different minerals under different temperature and pressure conditions, as well as examining the whole rock composition, occurrence of zirconium within the mineral rutile (which is temperature dependent), and the silica content of the mineral phengite, which is dependent on the pressure at which it formed.

The specimen is a migmatic 'brown gneiss' comprising brown layers rich in garnet and biotite, and white layers which are composed largely of feldspar. Examined in thin section, the material is about 50% plagioclase by volume, with about 18% garnet, 10% biotite, 10% alumminosilicates, 8% potassium feldspar, and small amounts of corundum, spinel, white mica, zircon, rutile, ilmenite, and pyrite.

(A) Distribution of minerals in the sample SC18-02 from the Lewisian Gneiss Complex in northwest Scotland. Alm, almandine; Pyr, pyrope. (B) Detailed Tescan Integrated Mineral Analyzer image showing mineral inclusions in garnet. Rt, rutile; Py, pyrite; Ky, kyanite; Phn, phengite; Crn, corundum; Spl, spinel. (C) Phengite, rutile, and kyanite inclusions within garnet (Grt). (D) Quartz and kyanite inclusions in garnet cores. (E) Spinel, corundum, and kyanite surrounded by biotite (Bt) in garnet. (F) Kyanite, pyrite, and biotite in the garnet. Pl, plagioclase. (G) Kyanite inclusions in garnet cores and sillimanite (Sil) inclusions in garnet rims. (H) An inclusion in corundum showing rutile replaced by ilmenite (Ilm). Huang et al. (2026).

Garnet grains within the sample were up to 12 mm in diameter, and rich in inclusions, including isolated and polymineralic spinel, white mica, corundum, rutile, ilmenite, plagioclase, potassium-feldspar, quartz, biotite, and/or aluminosilicate. White mica, which was largely confined to inclusions within garnet, had a high silicon content, with most grains being classifiable as phengite (high silicone mica). Kyanite occured as isolated inclusions or together with corundum, rutile, spinel, and/or biotite in poly￾mineralic inclusions concentrated within garnet cores. Sillimanite was found in both the rims of garnets and the surrounding matrix, with no preferential orientation. Rare quartz grains were found within the cores of garnets, although they were otherwise largely absent. Corundum primarily occurs in the matrix in contact with sillimanite, spinel, and rutile, where it is commonly replaced at its margins by biotite, and rarely as polymineralic inclusions with spinel and kyanite within garnet. Rutile is present both as inclusions and within the matrix.Rarely, rutile inclusions are partially replaced by ilmenite.

Biotite found as inclusions within garnets has a different composition from biotite within the surrounding matrix, containing a lower proportion of both magnesium and titanium oxide. Spinel grains within the matrix contain slightly more zinc than those within garnet inclusions. Within garnet grains, these spinel inclusions tend to be associated with kyanite and corundum, and many are partially replaced by biotite. Spinel grains in the matrix are typically in contact with corundum and are commonly surrounded by sillimanite or biotite. However, the high zinc content of these spinel grains makes it hard to assess the temperature and pressure under which they formed, so they were excluded from the remainder of the study.

The presence of isolated inclusions of phengite, kyanite, rutile, quartz, and polymineralic inclusions including corundum, spinel, kyanite, rutile, phengite, and/or biotite within garnets is considered by Huang et al. as indicative of two phases of high-pressure metamorphism, with minerals formed by the first phase partially overwritten by the second. The presence of inclusions of sillimanite and plagioclase within the rims of garnet grains, as well as within the matrix assemblage, are taken as evidence for two later phases of high temperature metamorphism.

In order to determine the temperature and pressure conditions during the first phase of metamorphism, Huang et al. attempted to develop a phase equilibrium model for the whole rock. The presence of phengite, kyanite, and rutile within a quartz matrix suggests high pressure/low temperature conditions, with the silicon content of the phengites suggesting a pressure in excess of 2.4 GPa. Huang et al. estimate that during this first phase, temperatures reached 580-660°C and pressures between 1.5 and 2.5 GPa, giving a thermobaric ratio of between 230 °C/GPa (580 °C/2.5 GPa) and 440 °C/GPa (660 °C/1.5 GPa).

A second phase is deduced from the presence of an association of the minerals corundum, kyanite, biotite, plagioclase, and rutile/ilmenite. This association can only form at temperatures of between 830 and 880°C and pressures of between 1.1 and 1.7 GPa, consistent with the temperature deduced from the concentration of zirconium in rutile, approximately 740–960°C. This would correspond to a thermobaric ratio of between 490°C/GPa (830°C/1.7 GPa) and 800°C/GPa (880°C/1.1 GPa).

Another association present, comprising corundum, mesoperthite/antiperthite, and rutile, suggests a phase with higher temperatures but lower pressure. This association probably formed at a temperature of between 880 and 1000°C, but at a pressure of only 0.9.1.4 GPa. This is corroborated by zirconium-in-rutile data for this association, which suggests a formation temperature of about 800 to 1000°C. This would correspond to a thermobaric ratio of between 630°C/GPa (880°C/1.4 GPa) and 1110°C/GPa (1000°C/0.9 GPa). 

Huang et al. were able to obtain a lutetium–hafnium from a garnet within the sample associated with the high pressure phase of 2.81 billion years (the  isotope lutetium¹⁷⁶ decays to hafnium¹⁷⁶ at a predictable rate, with a half life of 37.1 billion years, enabling this system to be used for dating minerals which would not have contained hafnium at their time of formation).

Previous studies of the Lewisian Gneiss Complex have suggested formation under high pressure conditions, but not a precise age for the rocks nor any insight into the pressure-temperature relationship under which it formed. Huang et al. identify a low temperature/pressure event at about 2.8 billion years ago, associated with the formation of phengite, rutile, kyanite, and quartz inclusions within garnet. During this phase, temperatures reached 580–660°C and pressures reached 1.5–2.5 GPa, corresponding to thermobaric ratios of 230–440°C/GPa. This is consistent with the conditions associated with recent subductive margins where rock metamorphism occurs, but lower than is typical for Archean metamorphic terranes, which generally have thermobaric ratios of over 500°C/GPa.

A second phase is identified based upon the kyanite, biotite, and corundum inclusion complex, thought to have formed under conditions where the pressure had fallen by about 0.7 GPa, but the temperature had risen by about 200°C. This is consistent with the orogenic relaxation stage of a collisional cycle, where the horizontal movement of one plate into another has caused an episode of uplift, but that this horizontal movement has now stopped, causing the pressure within the rocks to slowly relax. This differs from the predominant system within Archean metamorphic environments, where the temperatures and pressures appear to have continued to climb, reaching levels far higher than seen in recent settings.

The low thermobaric ratios reported by Huang et al. are the lowest recorded for any Archean setting, and the only known example of low temperature/pressure metamorphism from the Archean. They propose the rocks or the Lewisian Gneiss Complex may preserve a record of a transition from a pre-plate tectonic regime to one in which subduction is beginning to occur, in a process that would eventually develop into plate tectonics. It has previously been suggested that this transition may have occurred during the Mesoarchean (between about 3.2 and 2.8 billion years ago) on the margins of the North Atlantic craton, as a result of the thickening and strengthening of the lithosphere, and long-term cooling of the mantle.

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Two dead in Meningitis outbreak in Kent, southern England.

Two people have died in an outbreak of Meningitis in the city of Canterbury, in Kent, southern England, this week, according to the UK Health Security Agency. Both of those who have died have been described as having been teenage students studying at the University of Kent. A further eighteen cases of the disease have been confirmed, sixteen of whom live in or close to Canterbury, with one patient each in London and Paris, both of whom are known to have visited Canterbury immediately before becoming unwell. A further eleven possible cases are under investigation. 

The location of the University of Kent. Google Maps.

Meningitis is a serious infection of the meninges, the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Several different Bacteria can cause Meningitis, however, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis (sometimes spelled Neisseria meningitis) are the most common, and are transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from infected people.

The average incubation period for Meningococcal Meningitis is 4 days, but can range between 2 and 10 days. The most common symptoms of Meningitis are a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting. Even with early diagnosis and adequate treatment, 5% to 10% of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. Bacterial Meningitis may result in brain damage, hearing loss or a learning disability in 10% to 20% of survivors. A less common, but even more severe (and often fatal), form of Meningococcal Disease is Meningococcal Septicaemia, which is characterised by a haemorrhagic rash and rapid circulatory collapse.

The Canterbury outbreak has been linked to the B serotype of Neisseria meningitidis, a form of Betaproteobacterium. A serotype is a distinct population within a species of Bacteria or Virus which presents different antigen proteins on the surface of its cells, and therefore requires the body to develop a different antibody response. A total of 12 serotypes of Neisseria meningitides have been identified, six of which (A, B, C, W, X and Y) can cause Meningococcal Meningitis epidemics.

Two serotypes 1a and 1b with antigens 2a and 2b on surface. Corresponding antibodys 3a and 3b with the possibility to bind to the antigens. Anna Bauer/Wikimedia Commons.

In the UK, a vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis serotypes A, C, W, & Y is typically offered to school pupils aged 14-15, while a vaccine for serotype B, which is particularly associated with outbreaks in infants, is offered to babies. However, this latter vaccination was only introduced in 2015, and therefore most people over the age of 15 in the UK are not vaccinated against this strain. The charity Meningitis Now, which campaigns on issues relating to the disease in the UK, as well as offering advise to those affected by or concerned about Meningitis, has been campaigning for a roll-out of the serotype B vaccine to older groups. 

As a response to the current outbreak, the University of Kent has arranged for a vaccination program for students to be set up on its campus, where antibiotics, which can help to fight the disease, are also available. Advice for staff and students at the university can be found here. Other people who are concerned that they may have been exposed should contact their GP (a GP, or General Practitioner, is a family doctor in the UK), or the National Health Service's NHS111 help service.

Students at the University of Kent in Canterbury queuing to get Meningitis B vaccine. PA Media.

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Iron Age carnyx uncovered at archaeological site in Norfolk, England.

Archaeologists from Pre-Construct Archaeology, a company which specialises in carrying out archaeological surveys ahead of construction projects, have uncovered a hoard of Iron Age artefacts while working at a site in west Norfolk, England, designated for a new housing project. This includes five shield bosses, a bronze Boar's head which was probably used as a standard, some indeterminate iron objects, and the remains of two carynces, a form of S-shaped trumpet-like (or possibly vuvuzela-like) musical instrument widely used by Celtic peoples across Europe between about 200 BC and about 200 AD. One of these instruments is fragmentary in nature, but the other is remarkably intact, making it a significant find.

An Iron Age carynx uncovered at an archaeological site in Norfolk. Norfolk Museum Service.

Carynces were periscope-shaped wind instruments, with a long central portion intended to be help upright, to which were attached at approximate right angles a short mouthpiece, and a wide bell in the shape of an Animal head. These were used in battle with the shape of the instrument placing the head from which the noise emitted above the heads of the warriors. Greek authors such as Polybius, recall that carynces were played in massed formations ahead of battles to intimidate opponents. 

A reconstruction of a carynx being played. Pre-construct Archaeology.

This is the first carynx uncovered in the UK in over two centuries, and on the third time such an instrument has been found in Britain. The first British example was dredged from the River Witham at Tattershall Ferry in 1768, with a second found buried with a small hoard in a field in Deskford, Banffshire, in 1816. Examples are also known from several sites on the continent, where they are also recorded by Greek and Roman writers, emphasising the connections between pre-Roman Britain and the peoples of Europe.

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