WHO confirms Andes strain of hantavirus in cruise ship passengers, with 3 transferred from ship for treatment

Health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can be transmitted from person to person, in passengers who were on a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of the rare infection, officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were being evacuated from the MV Hondius ship and were being flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the UN’s health agency said. The vessel remained off Cape Verde, with nearly 150 people on board, waiting to head to Spain’s Canary Islands.

The ship’s doctor was among the three transferred. The doctor’s condition has improved, Spain’s health ministry said, after he was described earlier in the week as being in serious condition. Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship’s company, also told The Associated Press the doctor is in stable condition.

The Dutch foreign ministry said the three being evacuated were a 56-year-old Briton, a 41-year-old Dutch national and a 65-year-old German. The ministry said they would be “immediately transferred to specialized hospitals in Europe.” A Dutch hospital confirmed it would take one, and German authorities said they were preparing for a second.

Two “remain in a serious condition,” Oceanwide Expeditions said, and the third had no symptoms but was “closely associated” with a German passenger who died on May 2.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday confirmed that three patients were evacuated.

“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” he wrote on his X account.

All passengers remaining aboard are asymptomatic, and non-Spanish citizens will be repatriated to their countries after the ship arrives in ⁠Tenerife ⁠in ‌the Canary Islands from Cape Verde, Spanish Health Minister Monica ⁠Garcia said on Wednesday.

Garcia said ⁠14 Spaniards will be transferred by plane to ⁠a hospital in Madrid to quarantine. Passengers from other countries will not ‌be required to quarantine in Spain, with the decision being up to officials in their respective countries, ⁠she said.

The Hondius passenger list includes persons representing over 20 countries, including four Canadian citizens. Global Affairs Canada previously told CBC News there are no reports of Canadians being directly affected by the outbreak.

Hantavirus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, people. To date, the Andes strain is the only type of hantavirus in which human-to-human transmission has been confirmed, usually through close contact, such as by sharing a bed or food, experts say.

Hantaviruses can cause cardiopulmonary issues among patients and can have a fatality rate of up to 50 per cent, the WHO says. Patients who are hospitalized can require supplemental oxygen or medical ventilation.

Human-to-human transmission possible with strain

WHO has said hantavirus has been confirmed in five individuals who were on the ship, and is suspected in three other cases.

The total increased from Tuedday after authorities in Switzerland confirmed another case.

Simon Ming, spokesperson for the federal office of public health in Switzerland, said in an email to AP that the patient left the ship during its St. Helena stop in late April. It was not immediately clear when or how he returned to Switzerland

The patient’s wife hasn’t shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution, the Swiss statement said. Health experts say the incubation period for the virus is 45 days.

The South African Department of Health said in a report that tests performed on passengers removed from the MV Hondius and flown to South Africa confirmed the Andes strain. One of the passengers, a British man, is in intensive care in a Johannesburg hospital, while another test was performed on a passenger posthumously.

The South African health ministry said officials had so far conducted contact tracing for 42 out of 62 people, including health workers, they believe had contact with those two infected passengers

The WHO confirmed the presence of the Andes strain had been detected as a result of work conducted in collaboration with health authorities in South Africa, Switzerland, Senegal and Argentina. That strain is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.

Health officials have previously said the disinfection measures are being carried out on the Hondius, and that out of caution, passengers have been isolated in their respective cabins.

The ship set sail from Argentina in late March. The cruise company says the body of the Dutch man suspected to be the first hantavirus case on board was taken off the ship at St. Helena a month later. The man’s wife was transferred from St. Helena to South Africa, where she died.

The ship eventually travelled to Ascension Island, where the British man currently hospitalized in South Africa was transferred.

The ship eventually travelled to Ascension Island, where the British man currently hospitalized in South Africa was transferred.

There had been some confusion about the medical transfer of the three patients to the Netherlands, though Oceanwide Expeditions had said it was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Officials in Cape Verde in West Africa have balked at allowing the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.

Late on Tuesday, the Spanish Health Ministry said it had been asked by WHO to take the Hondius and had given its agreement “in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles,” with the ship expected to eventually dock at the Canary island of Tenerife.

The leader of the Canary Islands said he was opposed to the move and requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, but the decision was ultimately the responsibility of the central government, which supersedes regional authorities.