Hantavirus live updates: Patient in France presenting 'severe form' of virus

Two patients infected with the hantavirus are currently hospitalized in hospitals in the Netherlands in a special units with isolation protocols, Dutch health officials said Thursday.

One patient is at Radboud University Medical Center, in the city of Nijmegen, while the other is at Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, officials said.

Health officials said the patients are not putting any other visitor or patient at risk.

Three additional people in the Netherlands have been tested for the virus, including a 69-year-old flight attendant. All three were in direct contact with the victim who died in South Africa, health officials said.

The flight attendant is currently admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam awaiting her test results, according to officials.

-ABC News' Aicha Elhammar

The MV Hondius left on its voyage April 1 from Ushuaia, Argentina.

On April 6, a 70-year-old Dutch passenger fell ill with fever, headache and diarrhea, according to the WHO. That passenger died on April 11.

The ship was between the British island territories of South Georgia and St. Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic, according to data from the ship tracking website MarineTraffic.

The ship sailed on for nearly two weeks, stopping near the island of Tristan da Cunha before reaching St. Helena, where the Dutch man's body was removed on April 24.

A total 29 passengers from 12 countries disembarked while the ship was in Saint Helena.

The Dutch victim's 69-year-old widow also disembarked and flew to South Africa, where she collapsed at an airport there. Two days later, she died from the disease, according to officials.

Another passenger aboard the ship, a German national, died on May 2nd, a day before the ship arrived in Cape Verde.

The next day, the WHO announced it was investigating a suspected hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius.

The ship is currently en route to the Canary Islands.

Texas' Health and Humans Services said Thursday that it is monitoring two residents who were previously passengers on the MV Hondius.

The department said the passengers left the ship and returned to the U.S. before the outbreak was identified.

"Public health workers in Texas have reached the two individuals, and they report they are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship. They have agreed to monitor themselves for symptoms with daily temperature checks and contact public health officials at any sign of a possible illness," the agency said.

California, Arizona and Georgia health officials are also monitoring residents associated with the MV Hondius for potential hantavirus infections.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

The French Health Ministry issued a statement Thursday confirming that a French national has been tested for hantavirus after they displayed mild symptoms.

The unidentified person had been in contact with a confirmed hantavirus case who flew from Saint Helena to Johannesburg, according to the statement.

Eight other French nationals who were not passengers aboard the MV Hondius have been identified as contacts of a confirmed case after the infected person left the ship during a flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg, according to the French Health ministry.

"Following the appearance of mild symptoms in one of these individuals, diagnostic testing is underway and isolation measures have been implemented," the statement said.

The news brings the number of hantavirus cases associated with the MV Hondius to six confirmed and six suspected.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee