Third British national has suspected hantavirus after deaths on Atlantic cruise ship

A third Briton has suspected hantavirus in connection with an outbreak on board a holiday cruise ship that has killed three people, Government officials believe.

The British patient is currently on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the vessel docked in mid-April.

Two other UK nationals on board MV Hondius are understood to have caught the disease, which is caused by breathing in particles from the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents.

One currently remains in a stable condition in the Netherlands, while the other remains in intensive care in South Africa.

It brings the total number of publicly reported hantavirus cases to five.

Three people have died as a result of the infection thus far, including a Dutch couple, aged 70 and 69, and a German national.

The vessel is expected to dock in the Canary Islands this weekend, after initially being refused in a bid to protect public safety and avoid spread of the outbreak.

Upon arrival, the Government has confirmed it will be met by a chartered plane to repatriate the British passengers and crew, who will have to self-isolate upon their return.

Martin Anstee, a 56-year-old expedition guide and former police officer from Milton Keynes, was one of three patients evacuated from the vessel on Wednesday morning.

He was airlifted off the ship and is currently in a stable condition at Amsterdam Hospital, after what his wife described as a "very traumatic few days".

Another British passenger, aged 69, was confirmed to be carrying the virus - evacuated to South Africa where he remains in intensive care.

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Two other British nationals are already self-isolating in the UK after potential exposure, but have not displayed any symptoms.

They were part of a group of 30 people from a dozen nations, including seven Britons, who disembarked at St Helena in the south Atlantic on April 24, according to operator Oceanwide Expeditions.

Those who disembarked were later contacted following the first confirmed case of hantavirus reported on May 4, with four asymptomatic Britons remaining in St Helena.

The World Health Organization (WHO) deemed the outbreak a "serious incident", but said the risk to the public was low.

A UK health official has said that British passengers who were on MV Hondius will likely be asked to self-isolate for 45 days on returning to the country.

Contact tracing is under way in several other countries for dozens of passengers who left the Dutch cruise ship before the outbreak was detected - including Switzerland and the Netherlands.

WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus yesterday declared the first two cases had "travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present".

Hantavirus infections carry a mortality rate of approximately 40 per cent, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.

Symptoms typically emerge between two and four weeks following exposure, although this window can extend from two days to eight weeks, raising concerns that additional passengers may fall ill in the coming period.

Early warning signs include fatigue, fever, muscle pain and severe headaches, with cases potentially progressing to serious respiratory illness or haemorrhagic disease.

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