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The WHO said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
FILE PHOTO: Test tubes labelled 'Hantavirus positive' (REUTERS)Six of the eight people who had fallen ill, including three who died, were confirmed cases of hantavirus linked to the Spain-bound cruise ship, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The agency said that the other two people were probable cases.
The ship, heading to Spain's Canary Islands, left Cabo Verde 6 with 147 passengers and crew on board when the Hantavirus outbreak was first reported on May 2, while 34 others had already left the vessel.
On Thursday, the cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, and Dutch officials said that more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship at the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic on April 24.
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Hantavirus is a zoonotic virus carried by rodents and can cause severe disease in humans. It is typically spread through the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, urine, or saliva, and rarely through person-to-person contact.
The strain of hantavirus found on the cruise ship was confirmed as the Andes virus. This type of hantavirus is found in South America and is known to have a limited capability for human-to-human transmission.
Symptoms of hantavirus usually appear between one to eight weeks after exposure. While severe cases can progress rapidly, the incubation period can be up to six weeks, meaning more cases may be reported.
Countries are initiating precautionary surveillance and monitoring the situation closely. Some nations are preparing to receive their citizens from the ship, with arrangements for assessment and quarantine for those showing symptoms or identified as cases.
The World Health Organization has assessed the current public health risk from the hantavirus outbreak as low for the wider global population. However, the risk to passengers and crew on the ship was considered moderate.
The WHO said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
Here's all we know about the Hantavirus outbreak so far:
- Six of the cases have been confirmed as Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, through PCR testing, the WHO said.
- Four patients remain hospitalised in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while a suspected case sent to Germany tested negative.
- Spanish authorities are preparing to receive the remaining passengers and crew members on Tenerife. Officials said that passengers will be evacuated in small boats to buses only once their repatriation flights are ready to take them.
- Spain has requested medically equipped planes for passengers experiencing symptoms, Virginia Barcones, the country's head of emergency services, said Friday.
- The United States has agreed to send a plane to the Canary Islands to pick up its citizens, as will the British government.
- The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated on Friday that the US is closely monitoring the situation involving American travellers on board the cruise ship.
- American passengers will be brought to a dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha, Nebraska, for assessment.
- There are 17 US citizens aboard the ship, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions.
- US President Donald Trump said the situation "seems to be okay" when asked about the hantavirus. "It seems to be okay," Trump told reporters. "Not easy to pass on. So we hope that's true."
- The agency said the first case may have been infected before boarding, possibly during travel in Argentina and Chile, with later spread likely occurring on the ship.
How does Hantavirus spread?
The inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings usually spreads Hantavirus and isn’t easily transmitted between people. Some scientists believe the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
But the World Health Organization said the risk to the wider public from the outbreak is low. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Where did the Hantavirus outbreak originate?
Argentine investigators suspect a Dutch couple may have first contracted the virus while on a bird-watching trip before they boarded the cruise ship in Argentina on April 1. But no organisation has confirmed where or how they acquired the disease.
Argentina’s Health Ministry has zeroed in on the nation's southernmost town, Ushuaia. Officials plan to travel there in the coming days, according to a written statement to The Associated Press.
(With agency inputs)
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