The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Sunday that one of the 17 Americans being evacuated from the luxury cruise ship affected by the hantavirus outbreak has returned a mild positive test for the Andes strain, while another passenger is experiencing mild symptoms.
All the U.S. citizens are being airlifted to US, and the two passengers with symptoms are travelling in the plane’s biocontainment units, HHS added. The second symptomatic passenger has not yet been confirmed as having the virus.
Hantaviruses
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that are usually spread by rodents but in rare cases can be transmitted person to person. Health authorities have said the risk of the virus spreading is low.
Eight people no longer on the MV Hondius have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organization update from Friday, with six of them confirmed to have contracted the virus. A Dutch couple and a German national have died.
The Andes strain of hantavirus, identified in the ship’s outbreak, can cause severe lung illness that can be fatal in up to 50% of cases, according to the WHO.
The U.S. State Department’s airlift will transport passengers to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and the passenger with mild symptoms will be taken to a second RESPTC, the HHS said.
On arrival at the facilities, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive care based on their condition, HHS added.
Evacuation
Australia also announced plans to bring home a “small number” of its citizens from the vessel, along with one foreign resident requiring medical treatment. Environment Minister Murray Watt said those arriving in Australia would undergo quarantine, though officials did not confirm whether any Australian passengers had tested positive or shown symptoms.
Spain and France have evacuated their citizens from the MV Hondius, which is anchored near Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, officials said. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK and Ireland are also flying home nationals who were on the ship.
(With inputs from Reuters)
