May 8 (UPI) -- At least five U.S. states are monitoring former passengers of a cruise ship experiencing a hantavirus outbreak, health officials said, as the vessel with 17 Americans still on board heads for Spain.
The ship, MV Hondius, was sailing early Friday from Cape Verde to Spain's Canary Islands with about 150 people, including 90 passengers and crew, aboard.
Two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases of hantavirus have been detected among passengers and crew of the ship, resulting in three deaths and one critically ill patient, according to the World Health Organization.
Though the first known passenger became ill April 6 and died April 11, the outbreak was not identified until May 2, a week after 30 people, including the body of one of the deceased, had disembarked at St. Helena.
Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions on Thursday said six Americans were among those who left the ship at the British Overseas Territory on April 24.
