Three suspected hantavirus patients were evacuated from the MV Hondius as Spain confirmed plans for the outbreak-hit cruise ship to dock in Tenerife.
Three people suspected of having hantavirus have been evacuated from the MV Hondius and are being sent to the Netherlands for medical care, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, as Spain said the cruise ship would dock in Tenerife within days.
The patients are German, Dutch and British nationals, including a British crew member, according to the WHO. The rare outbreak linked to the ship has killed three people, and health authorities in several countries are now tracking confirmed or suspected cases connected to the voyage.
Spain’s health minister, Monica Garcia Gomez, said the Dutch-flagged vessel would dock at Granadilla, on the Canary island of Tenerife, “within three days.” She said authorities would put in place a joint system for health assessment and evacuation so passengers can be repatriated unless their medical condition prevents travel.
The announcement followed public resistance from Fernando Clavijo, the head of the Canary Islands regional government, who said earlier Wednesday that the islands could not accept decisions made without sufficient involvement from local institutions or information for residents. Gomez later said she had been in constant contact with Clavijo and that he would be included in meetings.
The MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and has been anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday. The ship had roughly 150 passengers aboard, and people on the vessel have been told to remain in their cabins as much as possible while authorities decide next steps.
South African authorities said Wednesday that two people who had been on the cruise tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus. Swiss authorities also reported that a man who traveled on the ship and returned home at the end of April had tested positive for the same strain, while saying there was currently no risk to the Swiss public.
The Andes strain, found primarily in Argentina and Chile, can spread from person to person, unlike other hantavirus strains. Ann Lindstrand, the WHO representative in Cape Verde, told CBS News on Tuesday that the virus does not present a pandemic-level threat because human-to-human transmission is considered unlikely.
A French contact case has also been reported by France’s health ministry to BFM TV, though few details have been released. In all, the reported suspected or confirmed cases tied to the cruise total nine, including three deaths, five people receiving treatment and the French contact case.
Oceanwide Expeditions said two infectious disease specialists were traveling from the Netherlands to the ship and would remain with it after its expected departure from Cape Verde. Lindstrand said any quarantine decision would be made by Spanish or Dutch health authorities with WHO advice, and could last up to two months because hantavirus can have an incubation period of one to eight weeks.
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