Madrid, May 26 (IANS) The Spanish Ministry of Health confirmed a new positive case of hantavirus among the 14 Spaniards who were among the passengers of the cruise ship MV Hondius affected by an outbreak of the disease while crossing the Atlantic Ocean in April.The 14 Spanish nationals from the vessel were evacuated from the island of Tenerife in a tightly controlled operation on May 10 and have since remained in preventive quarantine at Madrid’s Gomez Ulla Central Defence Hospital.The latest po…
Latest MV Hondius News & Updates
Amsterdam, May 18 (IANS) The hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Monday for disinfection, concluding a voyage that had drawn the attention of international health authorities.The crew members are set to enter quarantine immediately. Those unable to return to their home countries will undergo quarantine in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week.According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch vessel’s operator, there are currently 27 peo…
Ottawa, May 18 (IANS) The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed a case of hantavirus in a cruise passenger currently isolating in British Columbia following laboratory testing.PHAC said in a statement on Sunday that samples from British Columbia were sent to the agency’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing.According to the agency, one individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus on Saturday. A second individual, a travelling part…
Vancouver, May 17 (IANS) A Canadian cruise passenger currently in isolation has tested presumptive positive for hantavirus, health authorities in Canada’s British Columbia province announced.Bonnie Henry, a provincial health officer, said the patient began developing mild symptoms, including fever and headache, two days ago and was taken to a local hospital. The presumptive positive result came back on Friday and the person is currently being treated in isolation as a positive patient, Xinhua ne…
The Hague, May 16 (IANS) The Dutch government has announced that the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius is expected to arrive at the Port of Rotterdam next Monday, with most crew members set to undergo a six-week quarantine in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “Rotterdam has been designated in the Netherlands as the port for the handling of infectious diseases in shipping,” according to a letter sent to parliament on Friday (local time) and signed by Sophie Hermans, Dutch minister of health, welfar…
Paris, May 14 (IANS) An infectious outbreak reported aboard the cruise ship “Ambition,” docked in Bordeaux, has been confirmed as viral gastroenteritis caused by norovirus, the prefecture of Gironde in southwestern France said in a statement. No severe cases have been reported at this stage, and asymptomatic people will be allowed to leave the vessel, according to the statement issued on Wednesday (local time).The “Ambition,” operated by British company Ambassador Cruise Line, arrived in Bordeau…
Cape Town, May 13 (IANS) The number of possible contacts with hantavirus-infected people has increased to 97 in South Africa, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has confirmed.South African teams were working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) to track exposed passengers, healthcare workers and airline contacts with infected persons, Motsoaledi told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) News on Monday.”So far, we have ide…
Madrid, May 12 (IANS) The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday said additional hantavirus cases could still emerge in the coming weeks following the evacuation of passengers from the outbreak-hit cruise ship MV Hondius, while stressing that the global public health risk remains low.”Given the long incubation period of the virus, it is possible that we may see more cases in the coming weeks,” Tedros said at a joint press conference with Spanish Pr…
Eindhoven, May 12 (IANS) The last two evacuation flights carrying passengers and crew from the hantavirus-hit cruise MV Hondius landed at Eindhoven Air Base in the Netherlands on Tuesday.According to the Dutch Foreign Ministry, the first flight, operated by Australian authorities, carried six passengers. The second, a Dutch-organized flight, transported 22 crew members from the luxury cruise vessel, including one Dutch national and 21 individuals of other nationalities.The first aircraft landed …
The Hague, May 12 (IANS) Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) in the Netherlands has placed 12 employees in quarantine for six weeks as a precaution after incorrect procedures were followed while caring for a patient infected with hantavirus. The hospital said on Monday that the issue involved procedures for drawing and processing blood samples, as well as the disposal of the patient’s urine, reports Xinhua news agency.”This blood was processed according to standard procedure. Due to t…