UK health chiefs track all cruise passengers exposed to hantavirus

PTI

London

The UK health authorities on Friday continue to trace all British nationals who were exposed to the dangerous rat-borne hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, with a third suspected case being logged.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said two British nationals are confirmed to have the hantavirus and a third Briton is suspected to be afflicted on board the MV Hondius at the Tristan da Cunha island in the South Atlantic.

While none of the British citizens on board are reporting symptoms, they are being closely monitored and will be asked to isolate for 45 days upon returning to the UK.

“This is an evolving situation, and we are working closely with partners to support British Nationals on board the MV Hondius,” said Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Officer at UKHSA.

UKHSA said it has tracked seven British nationals who disembarked at the British Overseas Territory of St Helena on April 24. Two of them returned to the UK independently and are self-isolating at home in the UK.

Four others remain in St Helena and the seventh individual has been traced outside of the UK. While none of them are currently reporting symptoms, they have been advised to self-isolate and will continue to be monitored.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it is in direct contact with the cruise ship and British nationals on board, setting up consular teams across multiple countries for support.

The Ministry of Defence helped provide vital diagnostic supplies, including PCR tests, which were delivered to Ascension Island via a military plane on Thursday, UKHSA stated.

Hantavirus is the name given to a group of viruses carried by rodents and transmitted by their droppings and urine. They can cause a range of diseases from mild, flu-like illness to severe respiratory illness.

Infections in humans are rare and tend to occur in places where people and rodents coexist most commonly in rural, agricultural settings, though the viruses can also sometimes be found in cleaning sheds, barns and holiday homes where rodents might have nested.

Most hantaviruses do not spread easily between humans, although person-to-person transmission has been observed in some cases involving particular strains.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), which is leading the international response to the incident, has identified the Andes strain – species known to be capable of limited transmission between humans, linked to close and prolonged contact.

The outbreak linked to the cruise ship has killed three people, but WHO has ruled out a pandemic similar to COVID-19 due to the very different nature of human-to-human transmission.

The MV Hondius luxury cruise, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 in Ushuaia, Argentina, and is expected to dock at Tenerife on Sunday, according to the latest updates from the Spanish health ministry.

About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries are reported to have initially been aboard the vessel before the outbreak was reported at the end of last month.