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Hantavirus update: MV Hondius cruise ship passengers cleared as authorities track history
MV Hondius passengers evacuated after 3 hantavirus deaths; Spain cleared them to return home under quarantine as WHO ruled out a Covid-like pandemic.
In a major update on the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, the Wall Street Journal reports that the passengers aboard the Dutch ship have now been safely evacuated. Concerns around a potential outbreak grew after three of the 150 on board died from hantavirus earlier this month.
The MV Hondius cruise ship was safely anchored off Tenerife, and the passengers were screened for hantavirus. Now, the WSJ reports that Spain's Health Ministry has cleared the passengers for their respective homes. However, the passengers will now have to undergo isolation and quarantine before they are fully cleared of potential infection.
The development comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a press briefing on Thursday that hantavirus is "not the start of a Covid pandemic." Abdirahman Mahamud, the chief of the health emergency department of WHO, ruled out the potential epidemic.
However, as authorities probe the virus further, the Guardian reports that they are focusing on hantavirus outbreaks from the past as key points of reference.
History Retraced As Authorities Probe How Infection Spread
Authorities still do not have a clear theory as to how the virus spread. Although a theory is that the three passengers who died from the virus contacted it before boarding the ship, there is still no certainty around it.
Amid that, the Guardian now reports that cases of potential infection from 30 years ago are being revisited to make sense of the outbreak aboard MV Hondius. According to The Guardian, scientists are looking into a case of a rural hantavirus outbreak from 30 years ago in the Patagonia region of Argentina.
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According to the report, the instance of outbreak in Patagonia was the first evidence of inter-human transmission. It started with a 68-year-old rural worker attending a birthday party and resulted in 11 deaths. Authorities believe that the incident could throw more light on the MV Hondius incident.
The MV Hondius cruise ship was sailing from Argentina bound for Cape Verde.
WHO Responds To Hantavirus Spread
On Thursday (May 7), the WHO released a statement reacting to the spread of Hantavirus from the MV Hondius cruise ship. The statement after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, addressed the press about the spread of the disease in a press conference.
“While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low,” Tedros said, adding that “it’s possible that more cases may be reported.”
“Our priorities are to ensure the affected patients receive care, that the remaining passengers on the ship are kept safe and treated with dignity, and to prevent any further spread of the virus,” he added.
