The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Friday that the public health risk from a deadly hantavirus strain, identified in a recent cruise ship outbreak, remains minimal. The global health body emphasized that the virus spreads exclusively through “very close contact,” significantly limiting its potential for widespread transmission.
International concern arose following an outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise ship currently en route to the Spanish island of Tenerife. The WHO reported on Thursday a total of five confirmed and three suspected hantavirus cases, tragically resulting in three passenger deaths.
Addressing the situation, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier stated during a Geneva press briefing, “This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low.” He further highlighted that in some instances, even individuals sharing the same cabin on the MV Hondius as an infected person did not contract the hantavirus.
“This is not a new Covid… It’s not anything close to measles,” Lindmeier clarified, stressing that hantavirus transmission requires direct, intimate contact, unlike airborne respiratory viruses. He elaborated that infection necessitates being “basically in your face… If you share saliva, (and) spitting would also be a problem.”
The MV Hondius commenced its voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1, embarking on an Atlantic Ocean cruise to Cape Verde, with stops at several remote islands along its route.
Cases requiring treatment or isolation are currently being managed across Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and South Africa, reflecting the international scope of the outbreak among passengers and crew.
In a reassuring development, Lindmeier confirmed on Friday that a Dutch flight attendant, who reportedly had close contact with a sickened cruise ship passenger who later succumbed to the virus, tested negative for hantavirus. KLM had previously stated on Wednesday that this passenger, identified as the wife of the initial hantavirus fatality on the Hondius, briefly boarded a flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25 before being removed. She tragically died on April 26 in a Johannesburg hospital and subsequently tested positive for hantavirus.
Commenting on the flight attendant’s negative test, Lindmeier hailed it as “very good news,” noting, “She was in close contact, apparently, with that woman who then later collapsed and died in Johannesburg, yet she’s… not infected with the hantavirus.”
Another illustrative case involved a Swiss man hospitalized in Zurich with hantavirus; his wife, who had traveled with him on the cruise, displayed “not presented any symptoms and is self-isolating.” Lindmeier emphasized, “That shows you again, luckily, that apparently the virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person.”
This limited person-to-person transmission also offers positive implications for residents of islands where the cruise ship docked. For instance, on the remote British island of Saint Helena, 30 passengers, alongside the body of the first person to die in the outbreak, disembarked on April 24. Lindmeier affirmed that “For the general population on an island… it’s an absolutely minimal risk.” (AFP)
