WHO warns of more hantavirus cases but expects cruise ship outbreak to be ‘limited’

The World Health Organization said Thursday that more cases of hantavirus could emerge after the disease killed three cruise ship passengers, but that it expects the outbreak to be limited if precautions are taken.

Another sick passenger on the MV Hondius arrived in Europe earlier in the day, as the ship headed for the Spanish Canary Islands and health authorities were rushing to track the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human transmission strain.

The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people traveling on it died, although health officials have downplayed fears of a wider global outbreak of the rat-borne virus.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had been briefed on the situation. "It's very much, we hope, under control," Trump told reporters.

"It was the ship -- and I think we're going to make a full report about it tomorrow. We have a lot of great people studying it ... It should be fine, we hope."

A Dutch couple who had traveled through South America before boarding in Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 were the first fatalities.

Argentine health authorities said Thursday that they have not yet been able to determine where the outbreak began.

"With the information provided so far by the countries involved and participating national agencies, it is not possible to confirm the origin of the infection," the Argentine Health Ministry said after a meeting with authorities from all 24 Argentine provinces.

A rare disease

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that five confirmed cases and three suspected cases in total have been reported, including the three deaths.

"Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.

Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands subsequently announced that another patient had tested positive for it.

However, Abdi Rahman Mahamud, WHO's director of alert and emergency response, said he believed it would be "a limited outbreak" if "public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown in all countries."

In Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa, people believed or known to have contracted the virus are receiving treatment or are in isolation.