WHO Warns of Potential for More Virus Cases as New Cruise Details Emerge
While saying the public health risks are low, the World Health Organization is describing the hantavirus outbreak associated with the expedition cruise ship Hondius as a “serious incident.” It warned that it is possible more cases will be reported as the first suspected case from a person not on the ship was reported, and globally, health officials are working to trace contacts.
The situation aboard the exploration cruise ship Hondius is reported to be stable, with the operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, saying none of the remaining passengers and crew are showing symptoms of the virus. The WHO and the Dutch health authority placed three doctors aboard the ship before it departed Cape Verde on Wednesday evening. Among the details that were revealed is that the cruise ship’s doctor was one of the two crewmembers showing respiratory symptoms who were evacuated from the ship yesterday.
Further concerns emerged as it was reported that a passenger who had left the ship earlier in the cruise and flown to Switzerland has now been placed in isolation. The cruise line reported today that a total of 30 passengers had disembarked from the Hondius on April 24 in Saint Helena, and it is suspected that most of them took an airplane to South Africa. Health officials spanning from South Africa to Singapore and France are tracking the disembarked passengers and their potential contacts. On Saint Helena, a small number of people who came in close contact with the passengers were told to isolate for 45 days.
A French citizen who had left the ship is reported to be showing “benign symptoms,” and today reports are that a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight attendant has been hospitalized with a suspected case.
The WHO is working to trace the movements of the passengers and is working with officials in Argentina to determine the likely origins of the outbreak. According to the WHO, the first man and woman who became ill had been on a bird-watching trip in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The suspicion is that they contracted the Andes strain of the virus and brought it aboard the cruise ship. It is the only strain of hantavirus known to be capable of human transmission.
The man died on April 11, and his wife was among the 30 people who disembarked in Saint Helena and flew to South Africa. The woman boarded a KLM flight in Johannesburg, but the crew determined she was too ill to fly and removed her from the flight. She died in South Africa.
Oceanwide Expeditions emphasizes that it was not until May 4 that there was a confirmed case of hantavirus. That was a passenger who was evacuated and remains in a hospital in South Africa.
WHO reports that five cases are now confirmed, with a total of eight suspected cases, including the three deceased passengers.
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The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said late on Thursday that he had persuaded the Spanish government not to let the ship dock in Tenerife. Oceanwide has reported that the ship is heading toward the port of Grandilla in the south of Tenerife and was expected to arrive by early Sunday morning, May 10.
The WHO is helping to organize the protocols and also arranging for 2,500 diagnostic kits to be distributed from Argentina. Local officials in the Canary Islands are calling for the ship to remain at anchor and the passengers to remain isolated. It has been suggested that the passengers would board medically equipped airplanes for repatriation to their home countries. WHO asserts that this is not the next pandemic on the scale of COVID-19 because of the low transmission rate, but says it demonstrates the vital need for global health protocols.