The World Health Organization is tracing passengers from a flight taken by a Dutch woman who fell ill aboard the cruise ship Hondius in Saint Helena, and later died of hantavirus after flying on a Airlink plane to South Africa. Her condition worsened during the flight, and she died after arriving at a Johannesburg hospital, where she tested positive for hantavirus. Her husband had earlier died of the virus on the ship.
There were 82 passengers and six crew on the April 25 flight, and authorities asked Airlink to urge them to contact health services, as the World Health Organization believes the virus spread between people on the cruise ship.
Hantavirus can cause a severe and often deadly respiratory illness known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which claimed the life of Betsy Arakawa, the wife of the late actor Gene Hackman, in 2025.
But what exactly is hantavirus, how is it transmitted, and why is it often deadly? Click through this gallery for an explanation.