German woman hospitalized for hantavirus testing after cruise ship deaths

A German woman who may have been exposed to hantavirus during an outbreak on a cruise ship has been hospitalized in Dusseldorf for precautionary tests, authorities said Thursday.

The 65-year-old woman was transported under strict infection-control measures to the University Hospital of Dusseldorf, where she was admitted to the infectious diseases unit for observation.

"The patient is in stable condition," the hospital said in a Thursday statement. "There is no evidence of active infection so far, but ongoing monitoring and tests are required given the virus's highly variable incubation period."

The woman was flown to Amsterdam on Wednesday evening and then transported by a special emergency-services convoy to a hospital in western Germany. The convoy included multiple vehicles as a precaution to prevent contamination in case of complications during transit.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, which had approximately 150 passengers aboard, reported a cluster of suspected hantavirus cases while sailing off Cape Verde. Three passengers have died.

The ship departed from Argentina, crossed the Atlantic with stops at or near isolated islands, then turned north toward Cape Verde off Africa's northwest coast.

Hantavirus typically spreads through contact with infected rodents' urine, droppings or saliva, according to the World Health Organization. Human-to-human transmission is rare but possible in close contact with symptomatic patients.