Passengers from virus-stricken cruise ship fly home for monitoring

Nebraska (AP):

The last remaining passengers on a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak disembarked yesterday and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine. 

A French woman was the latest to be confirmed as infected, while an American is suspected of infection after initial testing.

Passengers began flying home aboard military and government planes on Sunday after the MV Hondius anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks escorted the travellers from ship to shore in Tenerife, an effort that concluded yesterday

“If they stayed longer on the ship, the situation could have been difficult,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). He said citizens of the countries passengers are returning to should know “there is nothing to fear, the risk is low, this is not another COVID”.

Three cruise ship passengers have died, and six people with confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus are being quarantined, according to the WHO. The lab results of the American who tested positive were inconclusive, WHO spokesperson Sarah Tyler said.

Health authorities say it’s the first-ever 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 ship’s captain, Jan Dobrogowski, issued a video message yesterday praising passengers and crew for their courage and perseverance, and he called for respect for their privacy.

“I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike,” he said.

The French woman who tested positive for the hantavirus is in intensive care in stable condition at a Paris hospital, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said yesterday. He said four French passengers who returned on Sunday have tested negative but remain in isolation at the same hospital.

One of 18 evacuated passengers flown to the US also tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing symptoms, while another had mild symptoms, health officials said.

After landing early yesterday, 16 American passengers — one of them a British-US dual citizen — were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, which has a federally funded quarantine facility and a biocontainment unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases. They were being assessed to determine if they had close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

An American who tested positive for hantavirus on the cruise chip was taken to the Omaha campus’ biocontainment unit and will be tested again. The passenger “is doing well and not having symptoms at this time”, said Dr Angela Hewlett, the unit’s medical director.

The others taken to Nebraska will be monitored in quarantine for several days. They arrived “in good shape, good spirits”, said Dr Michael Wadman, the quarantine unit’s medical director.

Two additional American passengers, a couple, arrived on Monday at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. One of them has mild symptoms and will be tested for hantavirus.

CLOSE MONITORING

The WHO recommends close monitoring of former passengers

Oceanwide Expeditions, which owns and operates the cruise ship, said that 25 crew and two medical professionals remained on board on Monday as the Hondius departed the Canary Islands. It was expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Sunday.

The Hondius left the southern Argentine port of Ushuaia on April 1 and a Dutch passenger died on board April 11. It wasn’t until early May that the WHO said it was reacting to a suspected hantavirus outbreak on the ship, which by that time was off the West African island nation of Cape Verde.

South African health authorities said on Monday that the condition of a British man admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg and being treated for hantavirus was gradually improving. He was evacuated from the ship on April 27 after becoming ill.

The Dutch couple who presented the first two cases had travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the ship, the WHO said. They visited sites where the species of rat known to carry Andes virus was present.

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.

Tedros of the WHO advised that returning passengers should stay in quarantine, either in their homes or in other facilities, for 42 days. He added that the WHO cannot enforce its guidance, and that different countries may handle monitoring of passengers without symptoms in different ways.

Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalised for observation.