Countries scramble to track passengers of hantavirus-hit cruise ship

AMSTERDAM – Countries worldwide scrambled on May 7 to trace people who had left the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak before it got marooned off the coast of Cape Verde, in an effort to prevent further spread of the disease.

Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected to have contracted the virus, according to the World Health Organization.

The Dutch government has said around 40 passengers had disembarked the ship in Santa Helena, where the ship made a stop on its way to Cape Verde – before the outbreak was reported.

The whereabouts of many of these passengers is as yet unknown.

One of those to disembark was the wife of the Dutchman who had died on board the ship on April 11. She fell sick herself and died before she could reach the Netherlands.

Dutch airline KLM on May 6 said that it had taken the woman off a plane in Johannesburg on April 25 due to her deteriorating medical condition.

According to broadcaster RTL, a KLM stewardess who had been in contact with her has now been admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam after showing possible symptoms of a hantavirus infection.

The Dutch Health Ministry did not mention her job or who she may have been in contact with, but did confirm that a Dutch woman has been admitted to hospital and will be tested to determine whether she is infected with the hantavirus.

A spokesperson for KLM said the company could not “discuss individual cases” due to privacy concerns.

The virus found in the victims has been confirmed as the Andean strain, which can spread among humans through very close contact.

Experts have stressed that contagion is very rare and requires very close contact, but the outbreak has put the health authorities on high alert.

The US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on May 6 that it was closely monitoring the situation with US travellers on board the ship, adding that the risk to the US public was extremely low at the time.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on May 7 that one French citizen had been in contact with a person who had fallen ill but was not currently showing symptoms.

Argentina’s Health Ministry has said it will carry out rodent trapping and analysis in the southern city of Ushuaia, the origin point of the cruise ship.

The MV Hondius, with nearly 150 people on board, headed for Spain late on May 6 and is expected to dock in Spain’s Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on May 10, the EU’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said.

There is still no one showing any hantavirus symptoms on the ship, the ECDC, which is part of the medical team onboard the Hondius, said, adding that it was working with the Spanish authorities to finalise a protocol for disembarkation.

Once in Tenerife, if they are still healthy, all non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated to their countries, while 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined in a military hospital in Madrid.

Three patients were evacuated from the ship on May 6. One of them has been admitted to a hospital in the Netherlands, while another one was transferred to Germany for medical care.

The plane carrying the third patient was set to land in the Netherlands early on May 7, after facing a delay due to a problem with the patient’s life support system. REUTERS