•Passengers wearing blue protective suits board a military bus as passengers and crew are evacuated from the Dutch-flagged hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius
Here is a roundup of which countries have confirmed or probable cases of nationals infected by hantavirus after the outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, according to the World Health Organisation.
Eight cases have been confirmed, and two are listed as “probable”, according to the UN’s top health body and certain national health authorities, with citizens of six countries affected, reports AFP.
Three people have died, with two of those confirmed as having hantavirus and one probable case.
Other suspected cases and potential close contacts of infected people are being investigated, according to health authorities.
Netherlands
Two Dutch people from the ship have died from the virus, and one has been confirmed to have contracted the virus.
A Dutch couple who had travelled around South America before boarding the ship in Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1, were the first fatalities.
The husband, 70, showed symptoms on April 6 and died on April 11. His body was taken off the ship during its April 22-24 call at Saint Helena, an island in the south Atlantic.
No hantavirus test was carried out, and he is considered a “probable case”, according to the WHO.
His 69-year-old wife also left the ship at Saint Helena, feeling unwell. Her health deteriorated during an April 25 flight to Johannesburg, and she died in hospital a day later, with hantavirus confirmed on May 4.
The third Dutch case was the ship’s doctor, who reported symptoms on April 30. A test showed him positive for the Andes strain of the virus on May 6.
He was evacuated to the Netherlands the same day after the ship stopped off Cape Verde, and was stable while being treated in isolation.
Britain
Two British nationals have been confirmed as infected and one is classed as a “probable” case.
One British man became ill on April 24 with signs of fever and pneumonia and was evacuated three days later from the Atlantic island of Ascension to South Africa, where he was placed in intensive care.
Hantavirus was confirmed in his case on May 2, and the Andes strain was confirmed through sequencing.
A second British man working as a guide on the ship reported symptoms on April 27 and tested positive on May 6.
He was evacuated to the Netherlands on May 7 from Cape Verde and was stable while being treated in isolation.
A third British man left the Hondius on April 14 for the South Atlantic Archipelago of Tristan da Cunha and was treated in isolation there.
He reported symptoms on April 28. The WHO listed him as a “probable case” pending laboratory results.
British paratroopers and medics parachuted onto the island to deliver urgent medical supplies for him, ministers said.
Germany
A German woman who had a fever on April 28 and later developed pneumonia died on May 2 on board the ship.
A post-mortem sample was sent to the Netherlands with the evacuated patients, where tests confirmed infection by the Andes virus.
Her body remained on board the Hondius, which was due to leave for the Netherlands from the Spanish island of Tenerife late today.
Switzerland
A Swiss man disembarked from the Hondius in St Helena on April 22 and flew to Switzerland on April 27 via South Africa and Qatar.
He started suffering symptoms on May 1 after arrival in Switzerland. He was treated in isolation and tested positive for the Andes virus on May 5.
France
A French woman repatriated from the Hondius felt unwell late on May 10 and tested positive for hantavirus, France’s Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.
United States
One of 17 American citizens repatriated from the ship tested “mildly PCR positive” for the virus, while another had “mild symptoms”, the US Department of Health and Human Services said yesterday, Sunday, May 10.
