Three Canadians are isolating after possible virus hantavirus exposure on the MV Hondius, while four other Canadians remain in quarantine on the cruise ship. The vessel was meant to travel from Argentina to Cape Verde, and three people on board have died.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, said on Thursday that hantavirus spreads differently from COVID-19 and influenza. She said, “This is not COVID, this is not influenza; it spreads very, very differently.”
MV Hondius quarantine
Consular officials are expected to meet with the four Canadians on Friday. The World Health Organization is conducting an investigation into the outbreak on the MV Hondius.
The group on the ship is facing a disease that usually spreads through inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, not the airborne routes associated with COVID-19. Van Kerkhove said, “Most hantaviruses don’t transmit between people at all. Most hantaviruses are transmitted from rodents or their feces or their saliva in their droppings to people. And only this one particular virus, the Andes virus, which has been identified here, we’ve seen some human-to-human transmission,”
Andes virus outbreak
The outbreak involves the Andes virus, the one hantavirus type identified here as having some human-to-human transmission. Symptoms usually show one to eight weeks after exposure, and there is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus.
That leaves early medical attention as the main practical step for anyone who develops symptoms after exposure. For the Canadians now isolating or quarantined on the ship, the immediate concern is monitoring over the coming weeks for signs of illness after the exposure window.
