Research scientist Robert Nofchissey prepares samples of inactivated material as part of hantavirus research at the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday. AP-Yonhap
LONDON/GENEVA/AMSTERDAM — The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it suspects some rare human to human transmission of the deadly hantavirus took place between very close contacts on board a luxury cruise ship hit by seven confirmed or suspected cases.
Human to human transmission is not common, and the U.N. health agency reiterated that the risk to the wider public was low from a disease typically spread from contact with infected rodents.
A Dutch couple and a German national have died, while a British national was evacuated from the ship and is in intensive care in South Africa, officials said.
Two crew members require urgent medical care, the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said. Another person on board with a suspected case has only reported a mild fever.
Dutch preparing medical evacuations
The Dutch foreign ministry said it was preparing the medical evacuation of three people to the Netherlands. It was not yet clear when or where the nearly 150 other people still onboard would disembark.
The cruise ship hit by the deadly outbreak is moored off Cape Verde. The island nation in the Atlantic off West Africa was meant to be its final destination but it has not allowed the vessel to put passengers ashore because of the outbreak.
People are usually infected by hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, their droppings or their saliva.
However, a limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which spreads in South America, including Argentina, and which the WHO believes could be involved in this instance. Testing is under way. The Hondius left Ushuaia in southern Argentina in March.
Source: Korea Times News
