WHO says 6 hantavirus cases confirmed so far; adds that risk to global population is low

GENEVA – There are six confirmed cases of hantavirus so far out of eight suspected ones following an outbreak on a cruise ship, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 8.

“As of 8 May, a total of eight cases, including three deaths (case fatality ratio 38 per cent), have been reported. Six cases have been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infections, with all identified as Andes virus (ANDV),” it said in a statement.

“WHO assesses the risk to the global population posed by this event as low and will continue to monitor the epidemiological situation and update the risk assessment”.

“The risk for passengers and crew on the ship is considered moderate,” it added.

Meanwhile WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due in the Spanish island of Tenerife on May 9 to help coordinate the evacuation of passengers hit by the hantavirus, Spanish ministry sources said.

He will accompany Spain’s health and interior ministers to a command post there “to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols”, the sources said.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius – a Dutch couple and a German woman – have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

Those undergoing testing include two Singapore residents.

The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person – Andes virus – has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.

The Dutch-flagged vessel, which has around 150 people on board, is expected to arrive at the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on May 10. Special flights will then take passengers to their home countries.

Earlier on May 8, the WHO insisted that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public.

“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.

A picture was emerging from MV Hondius where “even those who have been sharing cabins don’t seem to be both infected in some cases”, when one has fallen sick, he added.

“The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person,” he said.

The WHO said there are no suspected cases remaining on the ship.

A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said on May 8.

The passenger – the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak – had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25, but was removed before take-off.

She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.

Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla.

“This is a pretty unlikely case,” he told reporters, noting that she was seated “two rows behind the person who died with hantavirus”.

Spanish interior ministry sources said a South African woman who was also on the flight “is currently asymptomatic in South Africa after staying in Barcelona for a week before returning to her country”.

The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde.

Three suspected cases, including two crew members who later tested positive, were evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands.

The third person tested negative, German authorities said on May 8, but would remain under observation.

Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an “almost zero chance” the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus’ incubation period, among other factors.

Two Dutch healthcare workers are now on board the ship – an expert from the European Centres for Disease Control and a WHO representative conducting a risk assessment.

YouTuber Kasem Ibn Hattuta, who is travelling on the Hondius, said passengers were reassured that doctors had joined the ship.

“We finally left Cape Verde which was a relief for everyone on board, specially knowing that our sick colleagues are finally getting the medical care they need,” he said in a statement.

Everyone was keeping in high spirits, he added: “People are smiling and taking the situation calmly.”

People were wearing masks indoors and keeping their distance from others, he said.

Britain and the United States have announced repatriation flights.

Spanish authorities have said the ship will anchor off Tenerife and will not be allowed to dock.

Passengers will be transferred to shore on a smaller vessel then by bus to the airport.

The evacuation must happen between May 10 and May 11 due to likely adverse weather conditions afterwards, the Canarian regional government said.

Dockers in Tenerife protested against the arrival of the ship on May 8.

The cruise called at several remote British islands in the South Atlantic.

British health authorities said on May 8 there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world’s most isolated settlements with around 220 people. AFP