Six of the eight people who had fallen ill, including three who died, were confirmed cases of hantavirus linked to the Spain-bound cruise ship, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The agency said that the other two people were probable cases.
The ship, heading to Spain's Canary Islands, left Cabo Verde 6 with 147 passengers and crew on board when the Hantavirus outbreak was first reported on May 2, while 34 others had already left the vessel.
On Thursday, the cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, and Dutch officials said that more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship at the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic on April 24.
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Hantavirus is a zoonotic virus carried by rodents and can cause severe disease in humans. It is typically spread through the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, urine, or saliva, and rarely through person-to-person contact.
The strain of hantavirus found on the cruise ship was confirmed as the Andes virus. This type of hantavirus is found in South America and is known to have a limited capability for human-to-human transmission.
Symptoms of hantavirus usually appear between one to eight weeks after exposure. While severe cases can progress rapidly, the incubation period can be up to six weeks, meaning more cases may be reported.
Countries are initiating precautionary surveillance and monitoring the situation closely. Some nations are preparing to receive their citizens from the ship, with arrangements for assessment and quarantine for those showing symptoms or identified as cases.
The World Health Organization has assessed the current public health risk from the hantavirus outbreak as low for the wider global population. However, the risk to passengers and crew on the ship was considered moderate.
The WHO said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
The inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings usually spreads Hantavirus and isn’t easily transmitted between people. Some scientists believe the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
But the World Health Organization said the risk to the wider public from the outbreak is low. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Argentine investigators suspect a Dutch couple may have first contracted the virus while on a bird-watching trip before they boarded the cruise ship in Argentina on April 1. But no organisation has confirmed where or how they acquired the disease.
Argentina’s Health Ministry has zeroed in on the nation's southernmost town, Ushuaia. Officials plan to travel there in the coming days, according to a written statement to The Associated Press.
(With agency inputs)
