Operator of hantavirus-hit ship will say by week's end when the vessel will resume cruises

The operator of the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak told The Associated Press Wednesday that it expects to know by the end of the week if the vessel will keep to its schedule for the coming months, as it previously indicated it would.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is listed on Oceanwide Expeditions' website as scheduled to depart on a cruise later in May that would take it to the Arctic for a series of cruises throughout the summer. Three of the ship’s passengers died in an outbreak that was first confirmed earlier this month while the vessel was in the Atlantic.

In all, there have been nine confirmed and two suspected cases in the outbreak.

More than 120 people — all passengers and some of the crew — were evacuated from the Hondius in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday and Monday and are now in isolation in several countries. Asked on Monday whether it would amend its cruising schedule due to the outbreak, Oceanwide Expeditions said it did not “foresee changes to our operations” — which included a new cruise beginning May 29.

But on Wednesday, the company told AP it expected “clarity on whether the vessel will sail and the sailing schedule by the end of this week.”

Cruise ship to be disinfected in Rotterdam

The ship is now sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam with 25 crew, two health workers and the body of one of the passengers who died on board. None is showing symptoms, and the vessel is expected to arrive on May 17 or 18, Oceanwide Expeditions said in a press release Tuesday.

Once there, the Hondius will “undergo a thorough cleaning and disinfection process,” the company said. “The specific protocols are currently being finalized” in cooperation with health authorities, it said in its statement.

Asked about the disinfection procedure, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment told the AP Tuesday the vessel “will be cleaned and disinfected. We are currently working on the protocol on how to do this,” and no further details could be shared.

The hantavirus outbreak aboard the Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.

The virus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

Responding to a question about whether the disinfection procedure might now alter the ship’s cruising schedule, Oceanwide Expeditions told AP it was following official guidelines and “currently awaiting further information on how to proceed.”

It added: “We expect clarity on whether the vessel will sail and the sailing schedule by the end of this week. ... A ship cannot sail without official authorization.”

Hondius was scheduled for cruises starting later this month

According to the company’s website, the Hondius was scheduled to begin a new cruise May 29 from Keflavik, Iceland.

Asked whether it had received any cancellation or rebooking requests by customers scheduled on cruises on the Hondius, Oceanwide said Monday it was “not providing commentary on commercial matters at this time as we are focused on safety, disembarkation procedures, and coordination with authorities.”

Experts say future passengers are likely safe

How long the hantavirus lives on surfaces is highly variable, experts said, potentially extending from days to weeks depending on how cold it is or the presence of sunlight. But based on circumstances known about the outbreak so far, basic sanitation should suffice, they said.

Normal disinfectants and ultraviolet light are enough to kill the virus, said Erik Hill, a virologist at Seton Hall University. Someone would need to be exposed to a large enough dose of the virus to get sick, he explained, which is why people cleaning rodent droppings in an enclosed space are most at risk. The virus won’t survive very well on touch surfaces, he added.

Hantavirus “is not the concern on cruise ships,” Hill said. He and other experts say more contagious bugs, like measles or the norovirus, are much larger threats on cruises.

Dr. Max Brito, vice president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said that “with proper disinfection and sterilization practices, I think it should be OK to go back to operations within a reasonable time.”

But the experts could not say definitively what that time frame would be because of all the variables involved.

Oceanwide Expeditions says it has no indication of any rodents on board, and it operates under strict hygiene and safety protocols.

Based on the hypothesis that the first patients were exposed on land and reports that ship officials did not find rodents aboard, the risk to those on the next cruise should be low, Brito said.

“I don’t want to say that it’s a one-off but, as it’s shaping up to be, it’s a very specific outbreak and it’s probably not so easy to reproduce in the same way,” he said.