Hantavirus cruise passenger in ‘very critical’ condition after being told symptoms were 'anxiety'
After three people died on the cruise ship with the Hantavirus outbreak, another passenger is now in a 'very critical' condition.
All of the passengers have now officially left the ship after it docked in Tenerife on Sunday 10 May, with several people testing positive for the disease and forced to quarantine in their own countries after returning home.
While the World Health Organisation (WHO) has downplayed the danger of another pandemic similar to Coronavirus, Hantavirus does have a concerningly high fatality rate and presents with symptoms similar to flu before potentially causing haemorrhage and respiratory failure.
There is natural concern therefore for everyone on the ship, particularly as symptoms can take several weeks to show up, although the French woman who has now tested positive for the disease was told by doctors at first that her coughing fits were likely down to stress or anxiety.
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Spanish health minister, Javier Padilla Bernáldez, said: “It is not that the patient was feeling bad, and she was saying: ‘OK, I'm not going to say anything because I want to be on the plane."
She started to feel ill on the plane, and was diagnosed shortly after, with WHO suggesting that she is in a 'very critical' condition while isolating in Paris, with her health reportedly deteriorating.
Hantavirus is usually carried by rodents but human-to-human transmission is possible with the Andes strain, which health experts believe is what plagued the cruise ship.
A timeline of the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius
1 April - The MV Hondius cruise ship departs Ushuaia, Argentina, going on to visit Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, Saint Helena, and Ascension Island. Around 150 people are on board, of 23 different nationalities.
6 April - A 69-year-old Dutch man complains of a fever, headache, and mild diarrhoea while onboard.
11 April - The man’s condition deteriorates. He dies following respiratory distress.
12 April - The captain of the MV Hondius breaks the news of the man’s death to passengers. According to one of the passengers, the captain says the man died of natural causes and there is no contagion. Life continues as normal on board the ship.
24 April - The man’s wife, also 69 and from the Netherlands, goes ashore in St Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic, experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms. On the same day, a British man presents to the ship’s doctor with shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia.
25 April - The Dutch woman boards an Airlink flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Contact tracing efforts follow in the coming days to track down the 82 passengers and six crew members onboard the flight.
26 April - The 69-year-old Dutch woman dies after arriving at the emergency department in Johannesburg, South Africa. Meanwhile, the British man’s condition deteriorates.
27 April - The British man is medically evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa. He remains in intensive care in Johannesburg. The MV Hondius initiates its SHIELD response health and safety plan.
28 April - A German passenger develops a fever.
2 May - The German passenger dies following pneumonia symptoms. Laboratory testing confirms the British man has hantavirus. The World Health Organisation is notified by the UK.
4 May - The Dutch woman is also confirmed to have had hantavirus. The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, confirms that there are two crew members, one British and one Dutch, with acute respiratory symptoms who require urgent medical attention.
6 May - Swiss authorities confirm a case of hantavirus from a passenger of the MV Hondius who heard of the outbreak and presented himself at a hospital in Zurich. The two crew members, along with a close contact of the German passenger who died on 2 May, are medically evacuated from MV Hondius. Of these three passengers, two are now in stable condition in hospital, and one is asymptomatic in Germany. The MV Hondius heads North for the Canary Islands. Oceanwide Expeditions says no symptomatic individuals remain on the ship
8 May - The UK confirms a third British national has suspected hantavirus on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha.
10 May - The MV Hondius is scheduled to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife
Topics: Cruise Ship, Travel, Health
James Moorhouse