Editorial Team/Staff Writers
The hantavirus outbreak has not spread widely, the head of the World Health Organisation has said, after the evacuation of the last passengers from a cruise ship where the virus was reported, according to the BBC.
The broadcaster said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the comments while addressing a news conference in Madrid, Spain’s capital, on Tuesday.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” said Mr Tedros.
“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.”
The cruise ship, MV Hondius, left Spain’s Tenerife island on Monday and was sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, according to the BBC. Two flights carrying the final 28 passengers landed in nearby Eindhoven on Tuesday.
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Three people travelling on the ship have died. They included a 69-year-old Dutch woman who succumbed to the virus. Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, but the WHO is still investigating their cases. The Dutch man and the German woman are not confirmed cases.
According to the BBC, a French national and a Spaniard who previously returned home have tested positive. The WHO has confirmed nine cases, with two others suspected.
The French woman was in intensive care at a hospital in Paris, and doctors said she has “the most severe form” of the disease and was being treated with an artificial lung, the BBC reported.
The Spanish patient was described as having mild respiratory symptoms.
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 that this was a precautionary measure, as the workers did not follow strict protocols while handling the patient’s blood and urine samples.
Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents, but human transmission of the Andes strain—which the WHO believes some of the ship’s passengers contracted in South America—is possible.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OUR READERS OFTEN ASK
Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and shortness of breath.
WHO officials previously said the hantavirus is not a pandemic yet, like the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Spain’s health ministry said one of the 14 Spaniards currently quarantining in Madrid after being evacuated from the vessel had tested positive for hantavirus.
The passenger has a “low-grade fever and mild respiratory symptoms” but is in a stable condition, the ministry added.
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