Passengers and some crew members disembarked from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius. The cruise ship, carrying more than 140 people, arrived at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Sunday.
There are currently people of more than 20 nationalities on board. Spanish authorities in the Canary Islands will allow those disembarking to take only their essential items, cellphones, chargers, and documentation, AP reported.
The people will be ferried off in small boats, while the Dutch-flagged cruise ship will remain anchored off the coast. Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands to undergo disinfection.
What’s the situation aboard the ship?
The World Health Organization (WHO), Spanish authorities, and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions have said that nobody on board is currently showing symptoms of the virus. But those disembarking will be checked for symptoms and will only be taken off the ship once evacuation flights are ready to fly them to their destinations. The average age of passengers on board the ship is 65 years.
The director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday. Both the US and the UK have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s health and interior ministers, will supervise the evacuation. Authorities have said the passengers and crew members leaving the ship will have no contact with the local population.
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What is hantavirus?
Hantavirus is a zoonotic disease that spreads through contact with rodents, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. While the disease can be life-threatening, WHO officials have maintained that it cannot cause a pandemic like Covid-19.
The disease isn’t easily transmitted between humans, but the Andes virus (ANDV) detected on the cruise ship may spread between people. This particular strain is primarily found in South America.
Symptoms usually appear between one and eight weeks after exposure. The disease can have a high case fatality ratio, reaching 40-50%, particularly among the elderly and those with co-morbidities, according to the UN health agency.
In this outbreak, a total of eight confirmed cases, including three deaths, have been detected so far, translating to a case fatality ratio 38%.
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According to the WHO, the infection can lead to hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a rapidly progressive condition affecting the lungs and heart. It may also cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), affecting the kidneys and blood vessels.
Confirmed cases
On May 2, the WHO was made aware of passengers with severe respiratory illness aboard the cruise ship when it was off the coast of Cabo Verde. At that time, 147 passengers and crew were onboard, and 34 passengers and crew had previously disembarked.
According to WHO records, the first case was of a male passenger who boarded the ship on April 1 after travelling for more than three months in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. He developed symptoms on April 6 and died on board five days later. Although no laboratory tests were conducted, he is considered a probable case.
The first confirmed case was of an adult female who was a close contact with the first case. She died on April 26 in a Johannesburg clinic, a few days after reporting gastrointestinal symptoms. She was confirmed with hantavirus infection by PCR testing on May 4, two days after the WHO was informed.
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The third death also involved an adult female, who reported symptoms of fever and general malaise on April 28, and passed away from pneumonia on May 2. A post-mortem sample collected and sent to the Netherlands with two other evacuated patients confirmed that she was infected with the Andes virus. The two evacuated patients are currently stable.
An adult male passenger who developed symptoms on April 24 was also evacuated. He remains in Ascension Island in South Africa, under intensive care after testing positive.
Two more cases involve an adult male passenger, who had disembarked earlier and later tested positive after returning to Switzerland. Another male passenger who disembarked in Tristan da Cunha remains a probable case pending laboratory confirmation.
Authorities in Argentina, Cabo Verde, Chile, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, along with the WHO and partner organisations, initiated coordinated response measures to contain the outbreak.
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According to the WHO, one expert from the UN agency and one from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) are on board the ship to provide public health advice to the passengers.
