MV Hondius Docks in Canary Islands After Hantavirus Cases Confirmed on Board

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Spanish government will meet the vessel. Spanish authorities have prepared to receive more than 140 passengers and crew from the hantavirus-affected ship, which departed from Argentina on a voyage that included Antarctic waters.

As of 8 May, a total of eight cases of hantavirus, including three deaths, have been reported in connection with the MV Hondius, according to the World Health Organization. Six cases have been confirmed as Andes virus. Four patients from these cases are currently hospitalized.

One previously suspected case has been reclassified as a non-case after testing negative for Andes virus through specific PCR and serology. An adult male who disembarked from the MV Hondius in Tristan da Cunha on 14 April remains stable in isolation and is classified as a probable case pending laboratory confirmation.

The suspected case that disembarked there is being monitored by the British Overseas Territory's health services.

Three Britons are among the eight hantavirus cases linked to the ship. Of the confirmed cases, one is hospitalized in South Africa and another in the Netherlands. The MV Hondius departed from Cabo Verde on Wednesday after three people were evacuated.

One expert from WHO and one from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control are on board the vessel to provide support to passengers, crew and operators. All passengers on the MV Hondius will be tested for hantavirus before disembarking in Tenerife. Passengers and crew will disembark and undergo medical screening before being repatriated to their home countries.

They will be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in sealed and guarded vehicles through a completely cordoned-off corridor. Twenty-two British passengers and crew remain onboard. British nationals who do not display symptoms will be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, which served as a Covid-19 quarantine site in 2020.

They are expected to remain in a managed setting at the hospital for up to 72 hours and will be asked to isolate for up to 45 days. S. states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia — have identified people within their borders who were on the MV Hondius and are monitoring them for symptoms.

Signs of hantavirus infection can take as long as eight weeks to appear. Seventy-five contacts have been identified in South Africa related to passengers who travelled on the same flight from St Helena to South Africa with one of the confirmed cases. Forty-two of those 75 contacts have been traced by national authorities and are under monitoring.

Argentina, where the MV Hondius cruise originated, is ranked by WHO as having the highest incidence of hantavirus in Latin America. Epidemiological investigations continue to determine the source of exposure, including the travel history and potential exposures of the first case.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the virus was serious but this was not another Covid and that the current public health risk was low.

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U.S. Public health agencies, laboratories and healthcare professionals. WHO has developed and shared technical guidance documents covering management of the event on the ship, investigation of cases, disembarkation and management of returning passengers and crew members.

Countries involved continue public health coordination, with emphasis on early recognition of suspected cases, prompt isolation and infection prevention measures.