There’s good news and bad news on the hantavirus cruise front.
On Wednesday morning, health officials finally identified the exact species of hantavirus responsible for the outbreak aboard the MV. Honda. Additionally, three people suspected of having the disease have been medically evacuated, including the ship’s doctor. However, the most negative thing is that a French citizen may have contracted the virus on a flight he shared with an infected person. Honda passenger: apparently the first case transmitted from person to person outside the ship.
The patients”are on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands in coordination with the WHO, the ship operator and the national authorities of Cape Verde, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands”, saying WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday.
A known species and new cases
Health officials in South Africa were the first to identify the species, the Andes virus. The virus was found in two people who left the cruise ship: a Dutch woman who died after her serious illness and a British man who was still receiving intensive care in a Johannesburg hospital.
Hantavirus infections They are usually transmitted through contact with infected rodents or their droppings/urine. But the Andes virus is the only known species believed to be able to spread between people. Outbreaks of Andean virus transmission between humans are rare, but have occurred predominantly in South America. The woman was a close contact of a man currently believed to be the first case of the outbreak; Both had traveled through South America before boarding the Honda on April 1, which was scheduled to take a multi-stop cruise from Argentina to Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa.
The man died four days after first falling ill in April, but was never tested for possible infections. The woman left the cruise ship on April 24 and arrived in St. Helena while also feeling unwell and exhibiting gastrointestinal symptoms. He quickly deteriorated and died two days later, but not before boarding a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.
As of May 4, there were two confirmed and five suspected cases of hantavirus among Honda passengers and crew. Of them, three have died due to illness. On Wednesday morning, Swiss and WHO health officials reported a third confirmed case and eighth in total, that of a Swiss citizen who had abandoned the ship. The man has reportedly been isolated and is receiving care at Zurich University Hospital.
The sun too reported Today a potential ninth case has been documented, that of a French citizen who shared a flight with the Dutch woman. However, the article does not currently cite an official source for the report. Gizmodo contacted the WHO and France’s National Public Health Agency for comment on this possible case, but did not receive a response before publication.
the destiny of Honda
The rest of the passengers and crew on board the cruise ship are reportedly not showing any signs of illness. Until recently, the ship had been docked outside Cape Verde. The Spanish government is planning that the ship would head to the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, the largest city in the Canary Islands, where the passengers would be evacuated. Spanish passengers would then be quarantined at a military base in Madrid, while other passengers would be sent home if they are deemed free of infection (the virus can take several weeks to become symptomatic after exposure).
However, Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, apparently rejected this plan, stating that Spanish officials have not adequately communicated with his government.
“This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure citizens or guarantee their safety,” Clavijo told Reuters radio station COPE. reported Wednesday.
The identification of the Andes virus in this outbreak was expected, but it is important to confirm it. For starters, it rules out other potentially alarming scenarios, such as the emergence of a new species of hantavirus or a variant of a known species that has been better adapted to humans. The Andes virus also spreads predominantly through exposure to rodents, and cases of human-to-human transmission have generally required close, prolonged contact with infected people.
However, there have been sprouts where it is suspected that the Andes virus spread relatively easily between people. And given this latest potential case involving a flight passenger, it’s certainly possible that such a situation could have occurred again. So while the danger to the general public is still low, we may not be out of the woods yet.
