Experts are already worried that the spread of a rare and deadly rodent virus could end up causing the next global pandemic.
The rare strain of hantavirus has been found in patients linked to a deadly outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship. Three people on the ship have already died.
According to the World Health Organization another three people with symptoms were evacuated from the ship to receive medical care in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning.
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Samples from people on board are being sent abroad to be analyzed, the WHO’s representative in Cape Verde said adding that all the cruise-linked hantavirus cases were likely from same outbreak
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The ship was expected to dock at one of the Canary Islands, but was denied entry after concerns were raised about the risk posed by officials stepping ashore.
BBC reports: Earlier, the cruise ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said two of the three people due to be evacuated were crew members, including the ship’s reportedly British doctor. The third was a passenger linked to a German national who died on board last week.
The WHO has also confirmed a Swiss man who had travelled back to Switzerland after being on board the ship is receiving care for hantavirus at a hospital in Zurich.
Around 150 people remain aboard the MV Hondius under “strict precautionary measures”, Oceanwide Expeditions has said.
The vessel is currently anchored near Cape Verde, off Africa’s west coast, and intends to travel to the Canary Islands, where passengers could finally be allowed to disembark.
Spanish authorities have agreed to the move, but the Canary Islands’ president has announced his opposition to the plan and demanded an urgent meeting with Spain’s prime minister.
“I cannot allow [the boat] to enter the Canaries,” Fernando Clavijo told Spain’s Onda Cero radio. “This decision is not based on any technical criteria and nor have we been given enough information.”
In a social media post, he called for “safety and guarantees for the passengers and for the people of the Canary Islands”.
Eight cases of hantavirus – three confirmed and five suspected – have so far been identified in people who were on the ship, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) update.
The health body has consistently emphasised that risk of transmission to the wider public is low.
The virus typically spreads from rodents via their faeces, saliva and urine. But experts have observed the Andes strain spreading between human patients in previous outbreaks.
South African health authorities have said that the Andes strain – which is prominent in Latin America where the cruise originated – was found in both confirmed patients after tests conducted by the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
A document presented to South Africa’s parliament on Wednesday morning, seen by the BBC, says the Andes strain is “the only strain that is known to cause human to human transmission”.
So the ship is currently stranded near Cape Verde like a floating quarantine zone…
The rare disease is typically caused by contact with infected rodents’ urine, faeces or saliva, but the World Health Organization (WHO) say that some human-to-human transmission may have occurred among people on board the vessel.
But never fear, Moderna is already working on an RmRNA-based hantavirus jab.
