Another hantavirus cruise evacuee is confirmed to have the disease, with Spaniard quarantined in Madrid as international spread continues
Another person evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship has been confirmed to have the deadly disease, according to the Spanish health ministry.
A Spaniard, who was quarantined in Madrid after being evacuated from the luxury MV Hondius and showed no symptoms, tested positive provisionally on Monday.
This is the third case of passengers testing positive for the disease after being repatriated to their home country.
An asymptomatic American and a French citizen tested positive on Monday.
According to the French government, the condition of the French woman, whose health is rapidly deteriorating in the hospital, is currently in a ‘serious’ condition due to hantavirus.
A second American citizen on Sunday’s repatriation flight also showed mild symptoms, according to the US health department, which added that both passengers were returned “in biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.”
The cruise ship sailed from Tenerife to the Netherlands on Monday after its last six passengers – four Australians, one Briton and one New Zealander – and some crew members were evacuated.
Three people, a Dutch couple and a German woman, died after traveling on the ship, two of whom were confirmed to have the virus.
People in protective suits wait in line after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship, which docked at the port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 11.
Passengers wave from the bus after disembarking from the MV Hondius, a cruise ship affected by the hantavirus outbreak, at the port of Granadilla de Abona in Tenerife, Spain, May 11.
Medical staff direct some of the last passengers to be evacuated from the MV Hondius on May 11 in Tenerife, part of Spain’s Canary Islands
More than 90 passengers and crew of the Hondius were sent home on Sunday after being escorted from the ship to shore by staff wearing full-body protective suits and respiratory masks.
Two planes with 28 crew members landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday, where they will undergo medical tests, quarantine and eventually be repatriated.
This came to light when a hospital treating a hantavirus patient in the Dutch city of Nijmegen quarantined 12 employees as a preventive measure after blood and urine were handled without updated and stricter protocols.
“We will carefully investigate the course of events in order to learn from this so that it can be prevented in the future,” said Bertine Lahuis, chairman of the board of directors of the Radboudumc hospital.
Staff will remain in isolation for six weeks.
Hantaviruses are usually spread by wild rodents, but transmission of the rare Andean strain to humans is possible through close contact.
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