The Latest: 3 passengers from virus-hit cruise ship evacuated to the Netherlands

PRAIA, Cape Verde — Three people from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, including the ship’s doctor, were flown to the Netherlands for medical treatment Wednesday as the ship with some 150 passengers prepared to head to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Three people have died and the World Health Organization says eight cases have been recorded in total.

Passengers on the Dutch ship, the MV Hondius, are isolated in their cabins as the vessel remains near the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa. The ship left Argentina on April 1 for a week-long polar cruise.

This rare virus is usually spread when people inhale contaminated rodent feces residue. It can spread from person to person, although the WHO says this is rare.

Two Argentine officials investigating the outbreak say the government’s main hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus on a bird-watching tour while visiting a landfill. They may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.

Here is the last one:

The World Health Organization’s top outbreak expert told the AP that the risk to the public is low and that the Andean variant of hantavirus is known — even though the WHO has never seen a hantavirus outbreak on a ship.

“It is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease,” said Maria Van Kerkhove. “Most people will never be exposed to this. »

For those on board the ship, access to clinical care is important, she explained, because infected people may develop severe acute respiratory distress and need oxygen or mechanical ventilation. The hantavirus incubation period can last one to six weeks or more, she added.

Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship from southern Argentina say the government’s main hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching trip to the city of Ushuaia before boarding.

They said the couple visited a landfill during the birding tour, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media as the investigation was ongoing. Previously, authorities said Ushuaia and the surrounding province of Tierra del Fuego had never recorded a case of hantavirus.

— By Isabel DeBre

Oceanwide Expeditions says they are transported by specially equipped aircraft to “locations capable of providing specialized care and appropriate medical examination.”

A Dutch hospital confirmed it would take in one of the people, and German authorities say they are preparing to take in a second from the Netherlands.

The Dutch company says two of those evacuated for medical reasons “remain in serious condition.” The third has no symptoms but was “closely associated” with a passenger who died on May 2.

The company also says it is “expanding medical care on board with two infectious disease doctors, arriving today by plane from the Netherlands.”

Leiden University Medical Center says the department where the patient will be seen is well prepared.

In a statement on its website, the hospital said: “In addition to isolation rooms for patients, all protective equipment for our staff is available. Treatment takes place in strict isolation, following applicable protocols. LUMC has specialized isolation facilities.”

It also seeks to reassure other visitors to the hospital, saying that patients or visitors “are at no risk of infection. You do not need to take any special measures. You can continue to visit as usual.”

In Germany, the Dusseldorf University Clinic said one of three passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to the Netherlands, who was in contact with one of the hantavirus cases on board the ship, would be taken to hospital for testing later on Wednesday.

According to a press release, the person would be brought to Düsseldorf from an unspecified Dutch airport with the help of specialists from the city’s fire brigade.

The hospital stressed that the patient is asymptomatic and that the tests are a precautionary measure.

The arrival of the boat “will not represent any risk for the public,” said Spanish Health Minister Mónica García.

She said the boat would arrive at a secondary port on the island of Tenerife, located 10 minutes from an airport. From there, the approximately 140 passengers will be repatriated to their country of origin.

García said the operation to send passengers and crew home would be supervised by the European Union’s civil protection program.

The 14 Spaniards on board will be transported by military plane to the mainland, where, if necessary, they will be quarantined.

The regional president of Spain’s Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday that the Hondius had requested permission for the ship to dock on the island of Tenerife on May 9.

Clavijo, however, said he was surprised that passengers were forced to “travel for three days” instead of flying home from Praia airport.

He also complained that central authorities in Madrid had not informed him of the details of the situation on board the ship, a situation that limited the ability of local health authorities to prepare for his arrival.

“We still don’t know the status of all the passengers,” he said. “There is no protocol for this.”

Oceanwide Expeditions said Tuesday evening that two specialized planes were heading to Cape Verde to evacuate two people in need of urgent medical care and one person who was traveling with a German woman who died on board on Saturday. They were to be taken to the Netherlands, but it was unclear when exactly this would happen.

Once the medical evacuation is complete, the ship plans to sail to the Canary Islands, either Gran Canaria or Tenerife, for a journey of approximately three days, the company said in its statement, adding that “discussions are ongoing with the relevant authorities.”

Spanish health authorities said in an earlier statement that they were monitoring and “the most appropriate port of call will be decided. Until then, the Ministry of Health will not adopt any decision, as we have informed the World Health Organization.”

The World Health Organization said the ship had an itinerary that included stops across the South Atlantic Ocean, including mainland Antarctica and the remote South Georgia Islands, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension.

The cruise line announced only few details about two stops: on St. Helena, where the body of the Dutchman suspected of being the first case of hantavirus on board was removed from the ship. His wife also left the ship in Saint Helena and flew to South Africa, where she died.

The company said a British man was then evacuated from the ship on Ascension Island and taken to South Africa, where he was in an intensive care unit.

The company did not say whether other people left the cruise ship at these or other locations.

The cruise ship will be hosted in Spain’s Canary Islands, according to Spanish authorities, as the ship waits off the coast of West Africa for a third day on Wednesday for the evacuation of sick passengers.

The regional president of Spain’s Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday he feared the ship’s arrival would endanger the local population and demanded an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

“Neither the population nor the government of the Canary Islands can be reassured because it is clear that the danger for the population is real,” Clavijo told Onda Cero radio.

South African health authorities said they identified the Andean strain of hantavirus in two passengers who were on the ship, and Swiss authorities said they identified the same virus in their affected patient.

The World Health Organization says Andes virus, a specific species of hantavirus, is present in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.

The Andes virus can spread between people, although this is rare and the spread of the disease is usually contained because it only spreads through close contact, such as sharing a bed or sharing food, experts say.

South Africa’s health ministry said its results came from tests carried out on passengers after they were removed from the ship and flown to South Africa.

One of the passengers, a Briton, is in intensive care in a South African hospital. Tests were carried out on the other passenger posthumously after her death in South Africa.

The cruise ship, at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak and stranded off the coast of Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board, was waiting Wednesday to head to Spain’s Canary Islands. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Africa and Switzerland have identified a strain of the virus that can be transmitted between humans in rare cases.

Three passengers died and several others fell ill aboard the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius. Hantavirus is usually spread by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings.

The ship left Argentina on April 1 for an Atlantic cruise and was scheduled to include stops in Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and other locations. However, the itinerary appears to have changed due to the situation on board.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said three suspected hantavirus patients had been evacuated from the ship and were on their way to the Netherlands.