AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Countries worldwide on Thursday scrambled to prevent further spread of the hantavirus, after an outbreak on a cruise ship, by tracking those who had already disembarked before the virus was detected and anyone in close contact with them since.
Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected to have contracted the virus, which is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted among people, the World Health Organization said.
All passengers who disembarked in St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the ship made a stop on April 24, have been contacted, the ship’s operator said, adding this included people from at least 12 countries, among them seven British citizens and six from the U.S. The first confirmed case of hantavirus came in early May.
Experts have stressed that contagion is very rare, but the outbreak has put health authorities on high alert.
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was closely monitoring the situation, adding that the risk to the American public was extremely low at the time.
The Georgia Department of Public Health said it was monitoring two asymptomatic residents who had returned home after disembarking from the cruise ship.
The Arizona Department of Health Services said in a separate emailed statement it was monitoring one resident, who was a passenger on the ship, and not symptomatic. According to the New York Times, California is monitoring an undisclosed number of residents who had also been on the ship.
One French citizen has been in contact with a person who had fallen ill but was not showing symptoms, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
