Spanish Health Authorities Investigate Potential Hantavirus Case
Spanish health authorities are currently looking into whether a woman in Alicante has contracted hantavirus as the country prepares for the arrival of a cruise ship this weekend. The woman is believed to have traveled on the same flight as a Dutch passenger who later died in Johannesburg, according to Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla. He mentioned that the woman is in isolation and is experiencing symptoms such as coughing and general malaise.
Preparations for Cruise Ship Arrival
Spanish authorities have started preparing to receive over 140 passengers and crew members from a hantavirus-infected cruise ship heading towards the Canary Islands. Health officials there have stated they will conduct careful evacuations. The vessel is expected to reach Tenerife, an island off the coast of West Africa, on Saturday or Sunday.
WHO Confirms Cases and Warns of Possible Spread
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed five cases of hantavirus linked to the outbreak on a cruise ship. They warned that more infections could still emerge due to the virus’s long incubation period, which can last up to six weeks. During a press conference, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove emphasized that this is not SARS-CoV-2 and is not the start of a COVID pandemic. She explained that hantavirus spreads through close, intimate contact rather than airborne transmission.
Countries Track Passengers Who Disembarked
Health authorities across four continents are working to track down and monitor passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They are also trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then. On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, according to the ship’s operator and Dutch officials.
Flight Attendant Tests Negative
The WHO confirmed that a KLM flight attendant who briefly boarded a plane with an infected cruise passenger in South Africa tested negative for hantavirus. The flight attendant was working on a Johannesburg to Amsterdam flight on April 25 and later fell ill. She was taken to an isolation ward at an Amsterdam hospital on Thursday. The cruise passenger, a Dutch woman whose husband died on the ship, was too ill to take the international flight to Europe and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.
UK Suspects Another Case
On Friday, UK health authorities said a third British national is suspected to have hantavirus. The suspected case is on Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the south Atlantic where the ship stopped in April. There was no word on their condition. Two other Britons who were on the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. One is hospitalized in the Netherlands, and the other in South Africa.
What Happened on the MV Hondius?
Three passengers have died and eight others have been sickened by hantavirus on board the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship, which remains marooned off the coast of Cape Verde with nearly 150 people onboard. Dutch officials said they were in close contact with the ship’s owner and the authorities of countries whose citizens are on board. The United States has agreed to send a plane to the Canary Islands to repatriate its 17 citizens from the cruise ship, while the British government will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British citizens on board.
Related Developments
The Canary Islands have pushed back against Madrid, stating that the ship carrying hantavirus cannot dock. The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said three patients with suspected hantavirus cases have been evacuated and are on their way to the Netherlands. At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low, he wrote on his X account.
Human-to-Human Transmission Under Investigation
Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO said officials are investigating possible human-to-human transmission, something considered extremely rare. They believe the first infected person likely contracted the virus before boarding. Authorities have also stated there are no rats on board. A case linked to the ship has also been confirmed in Switzerland, while health authorities in South Africa and Switzerland have identified a strain capable of spreading between humans in rare cases.
Passengers Disembarked After First Onboard Death
Around 40 passengers disembarked from the cruise ship after the first passenger died on board, according to Dutch officials. The passengers left the MV Hondius during a stop at the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. Among them was the wife of a 70-year-old Dutch passenger who died onboard after falling ill during the voyage. She later flew on a commercial flight to South Africa, where she collapsed and died in the hospital.
Quarantine for Spanish Passengers
The 14 Spaniards aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius will be taken to Tenerife before being transferred to Madrid. They will undergo up to 45 days of quarantine in Spain’s most advanced isolation facility, at the Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla in Madrid. The High-Level Isolation Unit (UAAN) is a specialized facility created after the 2014 Ebola outbreak and previously used during COVID-19 evacuations from Wuhan.
Understanding Hantavirus
Hantavirus refers to a group of viruses carried by rodents, primarily transmitted to humans through inhalation of airborne particles from dried rodent droppings. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hantaviruses can cause two serious illnesses. The first is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which affects the lungs and can lead to severe respiratory failure. The second is haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which affects the kidneys and can cause serious complications.
