Suspected Hantavirus Case on Cruise Ship Prompts Contact Tracing Efforts
Overview of the Hantavirus Outbreak and Response Efforts
By Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, May 8 (Reuters) - A new suspected case of hantavirus was identified in a British national on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha on Friday, as efforts continue to trace passengers of the luxury cruise ship hit by the virus and their immediate contacts.
The British health security agency did not disclose further details of the new suspected case on the world's remotest inhabited island, home to only around 200 people, where the cruise ship made a stop on April 15.
Confirmed Cases and Fatalities
Three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - have died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius.
Four others confirmed to be infected, two Britons, a Dutch and a Swiss national, are being treated in hospitals in the Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland.
A Dutch woman died shortly after she had left the ship on April 24. She was the wife of 'patient zero', the Dutch man who died on the ship on April 11.
The World Health Organisation said it would provide an update on the latest suspected and confirmed case numbers later on Friday.
Testing and Tracing Efforts
No New Infections in Netherlands
Dutch health authorities said on Thursday two people who had been close to the woman before she was taken off a plane in Johannesburg on April 25, due to her deteriorating medical condition, had tested negative for the virus.
Among them was a flight attendant who had been admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam with symptoms of a possible infection, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
The Dutch public health institute said it was still waiting on clear test results for the third case on Friday.
Risk Assessment and International Response
Low Risk of Widespread Contagion
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but the strain identified in the passengers of the Hondius can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the hantavirus outbreak as 'level 3' emergency response, the lowest level of emergency activation.
Other experts have also stressed the low probability of a widespread contagion, but the outbreak has put authorities on high alert as they urge all who have been in contact with passengers who left the Hondius before the outbreak was reported to be mindful of possible symptoms.
Several U.S. states have said they are monitoring asymptomatic residents who had returned home after disembarking from the cruise ship.
Singapore on Thursday isolated and tested two residents who had been aboard the ship.
Current Status of the Cruise Ship
No Symptomatic Passengers on Board Ship
Cruise operator Oceanwide on Thursday said there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the ship, which was expected to dock in Tenerife in the Canary Islands early on Sunday.
Guidance and Repatriation Plans
The WHO has said it was working on step-by-step guidance for when the dozens of passengers remaining on the ship disembark and travel home.
The British health service said nationals on board who are not displaying symptoms will be flown back home and asked to isolate for 45 days.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Kim Coghill)
