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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.
Meanwhile, three patients with suspected hantavirus infections were 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.
The ship’s doctor was among the three transferred. The doctor’s condition has improved, Spain’s health ministry said, after he was described earlier in the week as being in serious condition. Oceanwide Explorations, the ship’s company, also told The Associated Press the doctor is in stable condition.
The Dutch foreign ministry said the three being evacuated were a 56-year-old Briton, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German. The ministry said they would be “immediately transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe.”
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday confirmed that three patients were evacuated.
“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” he wrote on his X account.
Three suspected <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/hantavirus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#hantavirus</a> case patients have just been evacuated from the ship and are on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands in coordination with <a href=”https://twitter.com/WHO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@WHO</a>, the ship’s operator and national authorities from Cabo Verde, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands.… <a href=”https://t.co/olQBk6tdGk”>pic.twitter.com/olQBk6tdGk</a>
—DrTedros
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.
The Hondius passenger list includes persons representing over 20 countries, including four Canadian citizens. Global Affairs Canada previously told CBC News there are no reports of Canadians being directly affected by the outbreak.
Human-to-human transmission possible with strain
WHO has said hantavirus has been confirmed in three individuals who were on the ship, and is suspected in five others. The total increased after authorities in Switzerland said on Wednesday that a man who returned from South America and travelled on the ship has tested positive for the virus and is receiving treatment.
Swiss authorities didn’t specify when exactly the patient was on board the Hondius.
For The National, CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault asked infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch to break down how hantavirus spreads and the risk to humans.
The South African Department of Health said in a report that tests performed on passengers removed from the MV Hondius and flown to South Africa confirmed the Andes strain. One of the passengers, a British man, is in intensive care in a Johannesburg hospital, while another test was performed on a passenger posthumously.
The WHO confirmed the presence of the Andes strain had been detected as a result of work conducted in collaboration with health authorities in South Africa, Switzerland, Senegal and Argentina. That strain is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.
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.
Hantaviruses can cause cardiopulmonary issues among patients and can have a fatality rate of up to 50 per cent, the WHO says. Patients who are hospitalized can require supplemental oxygen or medical ventilation.
South Africa’s Health Ministry also said that contact tracing was underway, with 62 contacts identified, including flight crew and health-care workers. The contacts will be monitored until an incubation period has passed and none have been diagnosed with the hantavirus so far.
Health officials have previously said the disinfection measures are being carried out on the Hondius, and that out of caution, passengers have been isolated in their respective cabins.
The ship set sail from Argentina in late March and two of the first cases on board, a Dutch woman — who died in South Africa — and her husband, had travelled in Argentina and elsewhere in South America before boarding the ship, the WHO has said.
There had been some confusion about the medical transfer, though the ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, had said it was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Officials in Cape Verde in West Africa have balked at allowing the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.
Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the World Health Organization said human transmission is uncommon, with most cases originating through contact with infected rodents, their waste or saliva.
Late on Tuesday, the Spanish Health Ministry said it had been asked by WHO to take the Hondius and had given its agreement “in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles,” with the ship expected to eventually dock at the Canary island of Tenerife.
The leader of the Canary Islands said he was opposed to the move and requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, but the decision was ultimately the responsibility of the central government, which supersedes regional authorities.