Athens, May 13: The company that operates the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak told The Associated Press Wednesday that it expects to know by the end of the week if the vessel will keep to its cruising schedule for the rest of the summer, as it previously indicated it would.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is listed on Oceanwide Expeditions’ website as scheduled to depart on a cruise later in May that would take it to the Arctic for a series of cruises throughout the summer.
Three cruise ship passengers have died, including a Dutch couple whom health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. In all, there have been 11 cases reported in the outbreak, nine of which have been confirmed.
On Monday, after the ship reached Spain’s Canary Islands where all remaining passengers were taken off, Oceanwide Expeditions said that it did not “foresee changes to our operations” – which included a new cruise beginning May 29.
But on Wednesday the company said it expects “clarity on whether the vessel will sail and the sailing schedule by the end of this week.” More than 120 people on board during the outbreak – all passengers and some crew – disembarked on Sunday and Monday and are now quarantined in several countries. The ship then set sail for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it is expected to arrive on May 17 or 18, Oceanwide Expeditions says.
Twenty-five crew members, two health workers and the body of one of the passengers who died are still on board. None are showing any symptoms, the company has said.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Cruise ship passenger quarantined in US amid Hantavirus case
Jake Rosmarin is among 18 Americans under observation in the United States following a hantavirus outbreak aboard the expedition vessel MV Hondius, which left three people dead and several others ill. He is being monitored at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in Omaha, where he is expected to remain for around 42 days. Other passengers are also quarantined or treated at specialised facilities in Nebraska and at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The outbreak, linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, affected at least 11 passengers, with nine confirmed cases. Health officials say the risk of wider community transmission is very low and that quarantine is precautionary.
Rosmarin said he did not become ill and is adapting to isolation with limited contact with medical staff and delivered meals. The MV Hondius voyage was extended after the outbreak, and passengers were later dispersed to quarantine centres worldwide. (AP)
