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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.
Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were evacuated from the MV Hondius ship and flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the United Nations health agency said. The flight arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening local time.
The vessel later left Cape Verde, with nearly 150 people on board, heading to Spain’s Canary Islands.
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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 Expeditions, the ship’s company, also told The Associated Press the doctor is in stable condition.
The Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry said the three people 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.” A Dutch hospital confirmed it would take one, and German authorities said they were preparing for a second.
Two “remain in a serious condition,” Oceanwide Expeditions said, and the third had no symptoms but was “closely associated” with a German passenger who died on May 2.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Zain Chagla spoke with CBC Radio’s The Dose about the risk of hantavirus in Canada, and the difference between the two syndromes it can cause. Health authorities said Wednesday that the Andes strain of hantavirus has been identified on a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak.
Passengers still on board asymptomatic
The ship is expected to dock in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands, within three days, Spain’s health minister said, adding that those still on board were not showing symptoms of the disease.
Once in Tenerife, and if they are still healthy, all non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated to their home countries, Mónica García told a news conference in Madrid.
The Hondius passenger list includes people representing more than 20 countries, including four Canadian citizens.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed to CBC News by email on Wednesday that according to the latest information provided to Canadian authorities, the four Canadian passengers remain asymptomatic, adding that they were not identified as close contacts of the affected individuals.
“As a result, no specific measures under the Quarantine Act are currently required for these travellers upon arrival in Canada,” PHAC spokesperson Mark Johnson said.
Johnson added that if any traveller arriving in Canada has concerning symptoms, they are referred by the Canada Border Services Agency to a PHAC quarantine officer for further health assessment.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was asked Wednesday if the hantavirus cases on a cruise ship represent an emergency situation like that seen as the novel coronavirus first emerged. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ the WHO official said.
The 14 Spanish passengers will be quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid, García said. The length of the quarantine will depend on when they may have been exposed to the virus, which she said has an incubation period of 45 days.
World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday tried to reassure the public about the risk.
“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” he wrote on his X account.
Human-to-human transmission possible with strain
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, WHO says. Patients who are hospitalized can require supplemental oxygen or medical ventilation.
The health organization reiterated Wednesday that transmission was likely only through very close contact.
“So when we say close contact [for human-to-human transmission], we mean very close physical contact, whether it’s sharing a bunk room or sharing a cabin, providing medical care, for example,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic management, said in an interview with Reuters.
“Very, very different to COVID and very different to influenza.”
WHO has said hantavirus has been confirmed in five individuals who were on the ship and that it’s suspected in three other cases.
The total increased from Tuesday after authorities in Switzerland confirmed another case.
Simon Ming, spokesperson for the federal office of public health in Switzerland, said in an email to AP that the patient left the ship during its St. Helena stop in late April. It was not immediately clear when or how he returned to Switzerland.
The patient’s wife hasn’t shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution, the Swiss statement said. Health experts say the incubation period for the virus is 45 days.
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 South African Health Ministry said officials had so far conducted contact tracing for 42 out of 62 people, including health workers, who they believe had contact with those two infected passengers.
WATCH | Virus can linger for weeks:
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.
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.
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. The cruise company says the body of the Dutch man suspected to be the first hantavirus case on board was taken off the ship at St. Helena a month later. The man’s wife was transferred from St. Helena to South Africa, where she died.
A German national also died, bringing the total number of deaths in the outbreak to three.
Officials in Cape Verde in West Africa balked at allowing the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.
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