00:00I am currently on board the MV Hondias and what's happening right now is very real for all of us
00:07here.
00:07Passengers trapped aboard a cruise ship off the coast of West Africa faced growing fear and uncertainty Monday
00:14as medics work to evacuate people showing symptoms of the deadly Hanta virus
00:19after a suspected outbreak that has killed three people.
00:23Jake Ross-Marin, a U.S. travel blogger, is among 150 people stuck aboard the MV Hondias.
00:30There's a lot of uncertainty and that's the hardest part.
00:34All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home.
00:41Hanta virus, a disease typically carried by rodents, does not transfer easily between humans.
00:46The World Health Organization said the risk to the wider public was low.
00:51Still, authorities in the island nation of Cape Verde said
00:54they were not allowing the Dutch-flagged ship to dock as a public health precaution.
01:00The ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said it was
01:03managing a serious medical situation and looking into whether passengers could be screened
01:09and disembarked on the islands of Las Palmas and Tenerife.
01:13Authorities said the deceased included a Dutch couple and a German national.
01:17Others fell ill, including a British citizen who left the vessel earlier and was being treated
01:23in South Africa.
01:24The Hondias left southern Argentina in March according to company documentation,
01:29traveling past mainland Antarctica, the Falklands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island,
01:35Tristan, St. Helena, and Ascension, before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.
01:40Hanta virus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness, is spread when droppings and urine
01:47of rodents become airborne.
01:48There are no specific drugs to treat hanta virus, so treatment focuses on supportive care,
01:54including putting patients on ventilators in severe cases.
01:58Hanta virus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks
02:03after exposure.
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