Ammon News - Three people are dead and at least three others are sick after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus aboard a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday.

The three dead were cruise passengers on the MV Hondius, said Oceanwide Expeditions, the company that operates the ship, which is currently anchored in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, an island nation off the west coast of Africa.

Passengers will not be allowed to disembark in Cape Verde, the country’s health minister Maria da Luz Lima told Radio Cabo Verde on Sunday. However, local health authorities have visited the ship and assessed two symptomatic crew members “requiring urgent medical care,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in its statement.

Hantavirus can cause a severe and often deadly respiratory illness called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which killed Betsy Arakawa, the wife of the late actor Gene Hackman, last year.

Humans most commonly become infected through contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially with their urine, droppings and saliva, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Just one type of hantavirus, the Andes virus, is known to be able to transmit from person to person, but it is rare. It is primarily found in Chile and Argentina, where the ship originated.

Still, health authorities emphasized that the outbreak does not represent a public health threat. “There is no need for panic or travel restrictions,” said Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe.

CNN