00:00I am currently on board the MV Conteance, 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 worked to evacuate people showing symptoms of the deadly Hantavirus.
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.
00:41Hantavirus, 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 they were not allowing the Dutch-flagged ship to dock
00:58as a public health precaution.
01:00The ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said it was, quote,
01:04managing a serious medical situation and looking into whether passengers could be screened and disembarked on the islands of Las
01:11Palmas 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 in 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, Tristan, St. Helena, and Ascension,
01:37before reaching Cape Verdean waters on May 3.
01:41Hantavirus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness, is spread when droppings and urine of rodents become airborne.
01:48There are no specific drugs to treat hantavirus, so treatment focuses on supportive care, including putting patients on ventilators in
01:56severe cases.
01:58Hantavirus usually begins with flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and fever, one to eight weeks after exposure.
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