No sign of larger Hantavirus outbreak -UN Health Agency
There is “no sign” of a larger Hantavirus outbreak after the evacuation of the last passengers from a disease-stricken cruise ship, the head of the UN health agency has said.
But the World Health Organisation’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned “the situation could change” and there could still be more confirmed virus cases.
The MV Hondius left Spain’s Tenerife Island on Monday and is sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Two flights with the final group of 28 passengers landed in nearby Eindhoven yesterday.
Three people have died after travelling on the ship. An American and a French national who previously returned home have tested positive. Overall, seven cases have been confirmed.
Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital are now in quarantine over possible exposure to the virus after treating one of the evacuated passengers.
The hospital in the city of Nijmegen said on Monday this was a precautionary measure, as the workers did not follow strict protocols while handling the patient’s blood and urine samples.
At yesterday’s press conference in Madrid, Ghebreyesus said: “At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak.
“But of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
And he stressed that “our work is not over” to contain the outbreak from the cruise ship.
Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents, but human transmission of the Andes strain – which the World Health Organisation (WHO) believes some of the ship’s passengers contracted in South America is possible.
Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and shortness of breath.
WHO officials previously said the risk of a major outbreak is very low.
The MV Hondius had been carrying 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries after departing from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1.-BBC
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