Hantavirus: French woman and an American from 🚢 tested positive

[TaylorSwift 162,434]

Health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can be transmitted from person to person, in passengers who were on a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of the rare infection, officials said Wednesday.

But despite the outbreak having sparked international alarm, the World Health Organization has said the situation does not have similarities with the start of the Covid pandemic. 'This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease,' WHO's top epidemic expert said. 'Most people will never be exposed to this.

Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were being evacuated from the MV Hondius ship and were being flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the UN's health agency said. The vessel remained off Cape Verde, with nearly 150 people on board, waiting to head to Spain's Canary Islands. Canary Islands authorities tried to reject orders from Spain, fearing the ship could bring the deadly virus onto their territory.

All passengers remaining aboard are asymptomatic, and non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated to their countries after the ship arrives in ⁠Tenerife ⁠in ‌the Canary Islands from Cape Verde, Spanish Health Minister Monica ⁠Garcia said on Wednesday.

Garcia said ⁠14 Spaniards will be transferred by plane to ⁠a hospital in Madrid to quarantine.
Passengers from other countries will not ‌be required to quarantine in Spain, with the decision being up to officials in their respective countries, ⁠she said.

 

Hantavirus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, people. To date, the Andes strain is the only type of hantavirus in which human-to-human transmission has been confirmed, usually through close contact, such as by sharing a bed or food, experts say. The disease has an incubation period of up to eight weeks.

WHO has said hantavirus has been confirmed in five individuals who were on the ship, and is suspected in three other cases. The total increased from Tuesday after authorities in Switzerland confirmed another case.

The cruise set sail from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1, destined for Cape Verde in Africa, and counted 88 passengers and 59 crew members, with 23 nationalities onboard.

The first stricken passenger, a 70-year-old Dutch man, died on April 11 as the ship steamed towards Tristan da Cunha. His body remained on board until April 24, when it 'was disembarked on St Helena, with his wife accompanying the repatriation,' Oceanwide Expeditions said.

The man's 69-year-old wife later felt sick on a flight from St Helena to South Africa, and  died on April 26 upon arrival at the emergency department of Johannesburg hospital.

The next day, a British passenger on the cruise became 'seriously ill ⁠and was medically evacuated to South Africa'. South African authorities have confirmed that the 69-year-old, who is being treated in a Johannesburg hospital, tested positive for the hantavirus.

On May 2, another passenger of German nationality died on board the ship.

Health officials are now trying to trace over 80 passengers who were on board the same two flights as the Dutch woman before she died.
The WHO has confirmed that the 69-year-old woman was flown from the island of Saint Helena to Johannesburg on April 25 on a plane operated by Airlink, carrying 82 passengers and six crew members. The same woman was also 'briefly' on board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands, but was removed before take-off, the airline said on Wednesday. Dutch health authorities are contacting those who were aboard this flight 'as a precaution,' KLM said in its statement.

The deadly rat-borne virus may have been brought onto the vessel by a birdwatching couple, according to officials. Investigators said a Dutch couple, who later boarded the MV Hondius, visited garbage dump to snap birds in the city of Ushuaia, and may have been exposed to rodents carrying the lethal infection.

cbc.ca source bbc.com reuters.com

Oceanwide Expeditions, the Netherlands-based cruise ship company, said Thursday that 30 passengers from at least 12 different countries left the vessel at St. Helena, while the Dutch Foreign Ministry put the number at about 40. The company had not previously said publicly that dozens more people left the ship on April 24.

A man tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland after he disembarked at St. Helena, though his precise movements in between aren’t clear.

Health authorities on at least 4 continents are now tracking down and in some cases monitoring the cruise passengers who disembarked on April 24, and trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.

Passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship and returned home before the hantavirus outbreak was discovered:
United Kingdom    7 passengers
United States    6
Netherlands    3
Canada    2
Switzerland    2
Turkey    2
Unknown    2
Germany    1
Denmark    1
Saint Kitts and Nevis    1
New Zealand    1
Singapore    1
Sweden    1

Source: Oceanwide Expeditions - the Netherlands-based cruise ship company

 

May 11: A French woman and an American tested positive for the hantavirus, as nations around the world scrambled Monday to repatriate passengers from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak and quarantine or isolate them.

The French woman tested positive for hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday. The woman was among five French passengers repatriated on Sunday. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter.

One of 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, and another had mild symptoms, U.S. health officials said late Sunday. The flight landed in the early hours of Monday morning and passengers were transferred to awaiting buses and driven away from the airport. ap

Edited May 11 by Teletubby

[TaylorSwift 162,434]

[Tinnitus15 51,886]

[Stefanotta 1,502]

8 minutes ago, Tinnitus15 said:

Not again please

[Killa 18,819]

8 minutes ago, Tinnitus15 said:

Requiem prepared with a week ahah. Gold timing. 

[River 127,410]

stay in the f-cking ship and stay away from us omg

[Juanlittlem 49,431]

Yaaay 

[VTV 13,911]

is this rich people problem

[Ladle Ghoulash 52,838]

Tbf this has happened with the hantavirus before (in the 90s, I think). So long as we don’t start seeing widespread human to human transmission, we’re fine 

[Hadrian 2,632]

Okay, well, ****ING KEEP THEM THERE.

 

Until they're no longer contagious, anyway.

[RebeldeFaith 5,757]

It's okay everyone. If it gets to the USA, with the current administration it'll spread very fast and well die faster. 

[Apec 284]

7 minutes ago, Hadrian said:

Okay, well, ****ING KEEP THEM THERE.

 

Until they're no longer contagious, anyway.

This, tbh. I live right next door to Holland. 

Anyway, trying to keep the Covid war flashbacks at bay and hoping the absolute best for everyone's health.

[Juanlittlem 49,431]

3 minutes ago, Apec said:

This, tbh. I live right next door to Holland. 

I live exactly where that cruise arrived this morning 

[TaylorSwift 162,434]

While most passengers remain on the ship under strict hygiene and isolation measures, 23 returned home and resumed normal life, and until 3 days ago, no one had contacted them.

“The Australian went back to Australia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes… I don’t remember the rest, but no Spaniards.” 

At least 1 of those passengers, according to their account, appears to have been infected: the man admitted  to a hospital in Switzerland. “He wasn’t feeling well, went to the hospital, and this morning tested positive,” the passenger said.

 

[Apec 284]

14 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Tbf this has happened with the hantavirus before (in the 90s, I think). So long as we don’t start seeing widespread human to human transmission, we’re fine 

Thanks for trying to reassure us (hello, I'm back! Had a bit of a non-contagious health break) but the fact that this is the only strain that can do that by semi-close contact makes things a bit more worrying. And I don't want to speak ill of the dead but going to garbage dumps in Argentina (bird-watching) and then going on a cruise carrying a lethal, rare virus strain picked up there is like, probably a script rejected by Netflix.... 

But I agree, calm is needed. Nothing to fear yet, cruise ships however are breeding grounds for everything wrong tbh.