As health officials scramble to limit the cruise ship spread of hantavirus, a rodent-borne disease that can be deadly when spread to humans, they’re all stressing one thing: this is not the coronavirus pandemic of a few years ago.
World Health Organization officials have repeatedly said the risk is low for the outbreak taking place on the polar expedition ship Hondius, which is currently heading to the Canary Islands after the deaths of three passengers.
“This is not the same situation we were in six years ago,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic management at the WHO, speaking at a news conference Thursday, noting that this spreads very differently than covid-19 or influenza.
Though the enduring images early in the pandemic were marked by travelers quarantined on cruise ships as the virus rapidly spread among passengers, officials said this is different.
“We don’t anticipate a large epidemic,” said Abdirahman Mahamud, head of health emergency alert and response operations at the WHO.
In a statement Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low.”
Hantavirus, which is normally linked to exposure to the urine or feces of infected rodents, can spread between people when it’s the Andes virus, which appears to be the strain linked to the Hondius, according to the WHO. Officials are working on the assumption the initial patients were infected off the ship, either before they boarded in Argentina or on an excursion.
The cruise operator said it expects the ship to arrive in the Canary Islands early Sunday. Physicians from the WHO, the Netherlands and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control are on board conducting interviews with each person to assess their exposure and risks, WHO officials said, and the WHO is developing a plan on how those onboard can safely return home.
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that “it’s very much, we hope, under control.”
A State Department spokesperson told The Washington Post on Friday that they are in direct contact with the Americans onboard and arranging a repatriation flight to support the return of American passengers alongside the CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the government of Spain. The spokesperson also said that the “Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans.”
The CDC announced Friday that it had deployed a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to the Canary Islands, where the ship is expected to dock. The team will conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American passenger and provide recommendations for the level of monitoring required. An additional CDC team will deploy to a Nebraska air base to support the public health assessment of returning passengers.
Virginia State Health Commissioner Cameron Webb told The Post that returning Americans would be sent to Nebraska, which houses the National Quarantine Unit, a federally funded quarantine facility, and the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, news the CDC later confirmed in a statement. He expects fewer than five Virginians to be among the passengers headed to the Midwest for monitoring.
Nebraska Medicine, which in part runs those units, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Webb, a physician, stressed that the risk is centered on those who were on the ship and their contacts and that the states were having multiple meetings a day with the CDC.
“This is not covid, but the lessons learned from covid still live large. And that includes the importance of us communicating in a transparent way with the public, what we know and what we don’t know,” he said.
Why this is different from covid?
Experts say because this strain of hantavirus typically requires prolonged contact or intimate contact, it is not as contagious as covid during the pandemic. The need for prolonged close contact makes it harder for it to spread widely and quickly, limiting the pandemic risk. They do point out, however, that being on a cruise ship means people are in closer proximity.
The Andes virus has an incubation period of up to six weeks, WHO officials have said. Flu-like symptoms arise, and eventually can develop into difficulty breathing, according to the CDC website.
There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus, but early detection can be vital to stave off severe complications or death. The WHO knocked down claims that ivermectin — which gained a following during the pandemic as a possible covid treatment despite research showing it is ineffective against the virus — was an effective treatment for hantavirus on Friday.
What happened?
A polar-rated expedition ship, the Hondius, set off from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a journey across the South Atlantic, with stops including Antarctica, South Georgia Island, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension Island.
A Dutch man onboard the ship developed a fever, headache and mild diarrhea on April 6. He died April 11 after developing respiratory symptoms. His wife, who was suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms and was still on the ship, later arrived at St. Helena, a remote island territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. She was flown to a hospital in Johannesburg, where she died April 26. Her case was confirmed as a hantavirus infection on May 4, the WHO said. Because they have died, key details about how they were exposed may never be known.
A German national has also died, while a British man is in intensive care in South Africa, and a Swiss man who departed the ship in late April was also confirmed to have the virus.
Anyone who is leaving their cruise ship room has been instructed to wear a mask, a WHO official said.
How many people has this impacted?
As of Friday morning, eight cases of the hantavirus are suspected, with five cases confirmed by testing.
Global health authorities are currently working to monitor about 30 passengers from at least a dozen countries who have departed from the ship — as well as two flights linked to an ill woman.
Some public health experts are concerned about the U.S.’s response capabilities, pointing to how the country has withdrawn from the WHO.
How have states and countries responded?
U.S. officials in at least five states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia — are monitoring symptoms of seven returning passengers, according to state health officials. None of the travelers have reported symptoms, officials told The Post on Thursday. Two passengers are in Texas and two are in Georgia, health officials said.
Virginia’s Webb noted that a passenger who had already returned to the commonwealth was taking their temperature twice a day and in close contact with health officials about monitoring for possible symptoms.
Georgia’s public health department told The Post they are monitoring two Georgia residents who returned home after disembarking the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak.
“The individuals are currently in good health and show no signs of infection. They are following current recommendations from CDC,” said spokeswoman Nancy Nydam Shirek.
Adam Taylor, Sammy Westfall and Kendra Nichols contributed to this report.
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