Dutch cruise ship Hondius — seen here off Santiago, Cape Verde, on May 4 — is presently docked off Rotterdam, Netherlands, being decontaminated. File Photo by Elton Monteiro/EPA
May 24 (UPI) — The hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship that gained worldwide attention earlier this month is “stable for now,” according to the head of the World Health Organization, who said passengers and crew were still being monitored.
There have been 12 cases, including three deaths, stemming from an outbreak of the disease that struck the Hondius vessel early this month, prompting emergency evacuations of its passengers and crew. The ship, operated by the Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions, is now docked in Rotterdam, where it is being decontaminated.
“The situation is stable for now,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday in a social media update.
“We continue to remain vigilant and in close contact with all relevant governments.
All 147 passengers and crew members of the ship have been in quarantine and under close health monitoring, most in their home countries, since being repatriated after disembarking from the vessel in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the quarantine and monitoring period is expected to run through on June 21, 42 days after last exposure to the virus.
The last death connected to the ship was reported on May 2, when the cluster was reported to the WHO. The caseload had remained steady at 11 since May 13, but rose to 12 after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Friday that Netherlands health officials confirmed a crew member had tested positive while in isolation.
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Health said the recently identified case has been admitted to hospital and officials are identifying any contacts the patient may have had, but added that “the person in question was in home quarantine after close contact with sick people with the Andes virus on board the ship.”
Andes virus is the hantavirus strain that struck the ship earlier this month after departing Argentina and heading to Cape Verde, off West Africa.
Hantaviruses can be contracted by humans from the urine, droppings and saliva of rodents, such as rats and mice, and cause severe illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eighteen American passengers from the ship remain in isolation in the United States, the CDC said.
