The World Health Organization has verified 11 cases of hantavirus, including three fatalities among cruise ship passengers.
CANARY ISLANDS, Spain — Spain’s health ministry revealed on Tuesday that a Spanish traveler, evacuated from a cruise ship amid a hantavirus outbreak, has tested positive for the virus. This announcement coincides with the World Health Organization’s confirmation of 11 total cases linked to the outbreak, three of which resulted in death.
The newly confirmed hantavirus case involves a passenger currently under quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid. This facility is also hosting 13 other Spanish evacuees from the cruise, all of whom have tested negative for the virus so far.
Following the complete evacuation of passengers and numerous crew members, the MV Hondius is en route back to the Netherlands, where it will undergo extensive cleaning and disinfection.
During a visit to Madrid, the director of the World Health Organization stated that all 11 confirmed cases are associated with the MV Hondius cruise ship, with three of these individuals having succumbed to the virus. Out of the 11 cases, nine have been identified as the Andes virus strain.
“These numbers have changed little over the past week thanks to the governments of multiple countries and partners,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” he added, “but of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, 12 staff members at a Dutch hospital where a hantavirus patient is being treated were told to quarantine after incorrectly handling bodily fluids.
In a Paris hospital, a French woman evacuated from the stricken ship remained in intensive care in stable condition. The French government was holding two new hantavirus emergency meetings Tuesday, the prime minister said.
Health authorities say it’s the first hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. While there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus, the WHO says early detection and treatment improves survival rates.
The evacuation of the MV Hondius is complete
A total of 87 passengers and 35 crew were escorted from the ship to shore in Tenerife by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks in a carefully choreographed effort that ended Monday night. Remaining crew members then took on supplies and set course for the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.
Two aircraft arrived in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven overnight. The first was carrying 19 of the ship’s crew and three medics. The Dutch nationals were taken home to quarantine and the others, including 17 crew members from the Philippines, were sent to a quarantine facility set up by Dutch health authorities.
A second plane landed later in Eindhoven chartered by Australian authorities and carrying six Hondius passengers — four Australians, one person from New Zealand and a British national who lives in Australia, according to the Dutch foreign ministry. It said the passengers will remain in quarantine near the airport and continue their journey toward Australia “as soon as possible.” Australian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for more details.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms — which can include fever, chills and muscle aches — usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
WHO chief Tedros has advised that returning passengers should stay in quarantine, either in their homes or in other facilities, for 42 days. He added that WHO cannot enforce its guidance, and that different countries may handle the monitoring of passengers without symptoms in different ways.
Dutch hospital staff quarantined
Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital where a passenger from the Hondius is being treated have to quarantine for six weeks after improperly handling bodily fluids, Radboud University Medical Center said in a statement Monday night.
The “risk of infection is low” the hospital said, but was requiring the dozen employees to go into preventive quarantine as a “precaution.”
The hospital in the eastern city of Nijmegen received a passenger last week from one of the evacuation flights that landed in the Netherlands and the person has since tested positive for hantavirus.
Blood and urine from the patient should have been handled “according to a stricter procedure,” the hospital said.
Associated Press writers Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
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