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A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has begun entering the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, ending a troubled voyage that has health authorities around the world on alert.
The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were taken off the ship by crew wearing full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to re-enter on their own.
The outbreak on the ship has reached 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Three passengers died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first to be exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive for HIV on Sunday and will share information about the case with the World Health Organization.
The ship has made a trip from Tenerife up the coast of Africa and Europe with 25 crew members and two medical personnel.
According to ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.
A lab has confirmed that a Canadian who was on a cruise in the middle of the outbreak has tested positive for hantavirus, but health officials are confident they have taken the necessary precautions to prevent further spread.
Members of the group who cannot return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week. Some twenty-two other passengers and crew have been quarantined in the Netherlands, after arriving in the country on a series of flights two weeks ago.
Eighteen Americans are currently being monitored in specialized health facilities in the United States designed to treat people with serious infectious diseases.
After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines. “Precautions are being taken to ensure that cleaners do not need to stay in isolation after cleaning,” the health ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.
Public health officials will inspect the ship before it is allowed to depart again. The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius is the first known case on a ship.
The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it sees no changes in its operations. It has an Arctic cruise from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.
The French Pasteur Institute said on Saturday that it has fully traced the Andes virus found in a French passenger from the MV Hondius and found that it is similar to viruses already known in South America, there is no evidence so far of new symptoms that will make it more widespread or more dangerous.
