A deadly outbreak of the hantavirus on a cruise ship has sent health officials scrambling across multiple countries. Three passengers have died since April 11, at least five others have fallen ill and five cases of the Andes strain of the hantavirus, which is primarily found in South America, have been confirmed on the ship so far, according to the World Health Organization.
Despite the alarm, the WHO moved quickly to calm public fears. “This is not Covid, this is not influenza,” said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s head of epidemic and pandemic preparedness at a news conference in Geneva. “This spreads very, very differently.” She added firmly, “This is not the start of an epidemic, this is not the start of a pandemic,” per The New York Times
Dutch flight attendant hospitalized after hantavirus exposure
A Dutch flight attendant was hospitalized and tested for hantavirus on Thursday after being exposed to an infected person, according to the Dutch health ministry. Dutch media reported that the flight attendant worked for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
The exposure is believed to be linked to a 69-year-old Dutch woman who is one of the three cruise ship passengers who died and boarded KLM Flight 592 from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25, the day before she died in South Africa.
She spent roughly an hour on the plane before airline staff removed her due to her rapidly declining health. A fellow passenger on that flight, Barbara de Beukelaar said that, “Nobody on board thought that they were dealing with a contagious virus,” per The New York Times.
Authorities have not confirmed if the flight attendant was showing symptoms or whether she had worked on a flight that one of the victims of the cruise ship outbreak had briefly boarded the day before dying.
Also Read: MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak: How many Americans were on board? Latest update
US States are now monitoring the passengers
Officials in three states are actively monitoring residents who were aboard the MV Hondius. Arizona is keeping watch over one resident who was a passenger on the ship. Georgia is monitoring two people who returned home. And in California, the CDC informed the California Department of Public Health that residents had also been on the ship, though the state did not disclose exactly how many people were involved, according to The New York Times.
Additionally, authorities have confirmed that none of the US passengers being monitored were showing symptoms at that time.
Also Read: ‘We’re not just…’: Man stuck on MV Hondius breaks down after hantavirus outbreak
The search became more urgent after reports revealed that around 40 passengers left the ship on April 24 without any contact tracing or health checks in place, according to The Mirror. This happened nearly two weeks after the first passenger had already died onboard. Oceanwide Expeditions, the company operating the cruise, first said tnat 29 passengers had disembarked while the Dutch Foreign Ministry estimated the number was closer to 40.
The passengers who left the ship belonged to at least 12 different nationalities and got off at St Helena which is a remote island in the South Atlantic. It has since come to light that a man in Switzerland tested positive for hantavirus after also disembarking at St Helena and flying home, per The New York Times. His exact movements after leaving the ship remain unclear which makes the contact tracing even more complicated.
Additionally, the ship originally departed from Argentina which is a country the WHO consistently ranks as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America. Officials and experts in Argentina are now scrambling to determine if their country was the source of the outbreak, per The Mirror.
The MV Hondius is currently heading to the Canary Islands but will not dock there. Passengers will instead be transferred by boat to Tenerife for flights back to their home countries. And the ship is expected to arrive on Sunday.
