Three people have died after an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean — and previous sufferers have shared their scary experiences with the infection.
The MV Hondius departed from Argentina on April 1 and was scheduled to make its final stop in Cape Verde after a 33-day cruise. However, officials in the West African nation refused to allow passengers to disembark.
After three days anchored off the archipelago, the ship is now sailing towards Spain’s Canary Islands.
Now, former Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl has opened up about his terrifying battle with hantavirus in 2012, revealing that the near-fatal ordeal caused his organs to expand and his heart rate to plummet.
However, Hasenhüttl, who was around 44 at the time, didn’t catch the virus in an exotic location. He actually caught it at home, sweeping his terrace.
Speaking to the Mirror, Hasenhüttl said that at first he confused his symptoms with exhaustion, having recently returned from a mountain bike ride during a training camp.
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Unbeknownst to him, his body was showing signs of hantavirus.
He said: ‘I went to bed and that’s when the pain in my head started. It felt like there was a needle in my head. Then I started to notice severe back pain. It felt like there was a knife in my back.’
Hasenhüttl continued, explaining that doctors diagnosed his back pain with a sinister reason — a virus was causing his liver and kidneys to rapidly expand and press against his other organs.
After spending two weeks in intensive care, the former manager revealed that he was ‘out for such a long time.’
‘My heartbeat would wake me up because of how intense it was; I would just feel this thud in my chest.’
Hasenhüttl also noted that his weight fluctuated, which caused his kidneys to weaken.
He described getting back to his old self as a ‘waiting game,’ and that he tried to ‘push away from bad thoughts’ because he felt young, healthy and strong.
‘I thought, ‘Why should I die from a virus?”‘, he said.
Finally, Hasenhüttl said that doctors found the source of the infection.
‘I was cleaning the terrace without a mask and I think I inhaled the dust,’ he said. ‘It takes about two to three weeks until it breaks out and symptoms show.’
Previous hantavirus sufferers share their experience
Alongside Hasenhüttl, a handful of other people have spoken about their experiences of the virus.
Canadian Lorne Warburton was admitted to the hospital in 2023 and put on life support. Speaking to BBC Outside Source, he described the sickness as ‘torture’ and ‘hell on Earth.’
Having started with ‘COVID-type symptoms, body aches, a chronic headache and fatigue,’ things soon escalated, and Warburton became ‘drenched in sweat and couldn’t breathe.’
Warburton said: ‘The degree of illness and sickness that I went through was hell on earth, it was torture, to go through that and to be able to bounce back.’
Thankfully, after three weeks in hospital, he made a full recovery.
In 2019, Christian Ege from Germany was also diagnosed with hantavirus. Like Warbuton, he developed COVID-like symptoms that felt like a ‘strange flu.’
For three days, Ege suffered from stomach flu, vomiting, and dizziness before a blood test confirmed he had kidney failure and sepsis. Ege was subsequently rushed to the hospital, where he spent a few days in the ICU with a neck catheter for dialysis access.
Ege also told the BBC: ‘The kidneys recovered normally, but it was the coincidence of a bacterial and a viral escalation at the same time that was a bit worrying for a couple of days for sure.’
In the days since the MV Hondius outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed five cases of illness. A third British national has also just been diagnosed with ‘suspected hantavirus’ in connection with the ship.
In a press conference earlier this week, Maria Van Kerkhove, from the UN Health Agency, stated that, though this is ‘not the next COVID,’ it’s still a ‘serious infection.’
She continued: ‘The risk to the general public is low… I really just want to assure people, this is something quite different.’
What is hantavirus?
The World Health Organisation describes hantaviruses as a ‘group of viruses carried by rodents that can cause severe disease in humans.’
It states that people typically get infected through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.
Hantavirus infections can cause a range of illnesses, including severe disease and even death, as we’ve sadly seen on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
WHO adds that hantavirus has a history of manifesting in different ways, depending on geographical location.
In the Americas, infection ‘has been known to lead to hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a rapidly progressive condition affecting the lungs and heart.’
In Europe and Asia, hantaviruses ‘have been known to cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which primarily affects the kidneys and blood vessels.’
What are the symptoms of hantavirus?
WHO notes that hantavirus symptoms in humans usually begin between one and eight weeks after exposure.
However, the timeline for symptoms to show depends on the type of virus the individual has been infected with.
Still, typical symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting.
Depending on the virus type, there are other symptoms to look out for, too.
Those suffering from HCPS may develop a cough and shortness of breath due to the accumulation of fluid in the lungs.
In HFRS patients, later stages of infection can include low blood pressure, bleeding disorders and kidney failure.
Unfortunately, hantavirus can be difficult to diagnose early. This is because so many symptoms are also present in other common febrile (having or showing the symptoms of a fever) or respiratory illnesses.
According to WHO, this includes influenza, COVID-19, viral pneumonia, leptospirosis, dengue or sepsis.
Hantavirus treatment
The government website states that currently there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus infections.
Rather, treatment is ‘supportive and based on symptoms, such as hospital care and respiratory support.’