The Economic Community of West African States has called on member nations to heighten surveillance and preparedness following an outbreak of Andes virus—a rare and deadly hantavirus strain—aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship near Cape Verde.
The ECOWAS Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC) issued the alert on Saturday, citing an outbreak first reported on May 2, 2026, by Cape Verde’s National Institute of Public Health. A total of 147 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities were on the vessel, though no ECOWAS citizens were among them.
Health authorities confirmed two deaths by the time the outbreak was reported, with a third patient airlifted to South Africa in critical condition. Laboratory testing on May 3 confirmed hantavirus infection in the evacuated patient.
As of May 8, eight cases—six confirmed and two probable—have been identified, including three deaths. That represents a case fatality rate of 37.5 percent. All confirmed infections are linked to the Andes virus (ANDV), a hantavirus strain endemic to South America.
Surviving confirmed patients are receiving treatment in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, while a probable case remains in isolation on Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.
Initial laboratory testing was conducted by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and later verified by the Institut Pasteur de Dakar. Sequencing and serological investigations are ongoing.
Health experts note that orthohantaviruses are zoonotic, typically transmitted through exposure to infected rodents’ urine, saliva, or faeces. Human-to-human transmission is rare, though limited spread of the Andes virus has been documented through prolonged close contact.
The disease initially presents with fever, chills, muscle pain, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, before rapidly progressing to acute respiratory distress, pneumonia, hypotension and shock. In severe cases, fatality rates can reach 50 percent. No approved vaccine or specific treatment exists, but early diagnosis and intensive supportive care significantly improve survival.
The World Health Organization has assessed the risk as moderate for passengers and crew of the vessel, but low at the global level.
The cruise ship departed Cape Verdean waters on May 6 bound for the Canary Islands, where passengers are expected to disembark.
Despite the low transmission risk to West Africa—given the absence of ECOWAS nationals on board—the RCSDC has urged member states to strengthen preparedness measures, including entry-point surveillance, laboratory diagnostic capacity, infection prevention and control, and risk communication.
The regional health body said it would continue monitoring the situation and provide updates as part of the coordinated international response led by the West African Health Organization.
