The World Health Organization continues to list the public health risk assessment for this hantavirus outbreak as moderate for anyone who was on the cruise ship MV Hondius, but low for everyone else. Still, the number of cases has now climbed to 11, nine of which have been confirmed as the human transmissible Andes virus. Three people have died, and, unfortunately, it’s looking like a fourth death may be likely. A French woman who disembarked the ship in Tenerife on Sunday or Monday had no symptoms at the time. But mere days later, the woman is in critical condition and only breathing with the aid of an artificial lung. Disconcertingly, the doctor described putting her on the artificial lung as “the final stage of supportive care.” Merde.
A French woman infected in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is critically ill and being treated with an artificial lung, a doctor at the Paris hospital caring for the sickened passenger said Tuesday. The outbreak has now reached 11 total reported cases, 9 of which have been confirmed.
Three people on the cruise died, including a Dutch couple that health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
The French passenger hospitalized in Paris has a severe form of the disease that has caused life-threatening lung and heart problems, said Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital.
He said the woman is on a life-support device that pumps blood through an artificial lung, providing it with oxygen and returning it to the body. The hope is that the device relieves enough pressure on the lungs and heart to give them some time to recover. Lescure called it “the final stage of supportive care.”
With the evacuation of all passengers and many crew members completed, the MV Hondius is now sailing back to the Netherlands, where it will be cleaned and disinfected.
The director of the World Health Organization said confirmed and suspected cases have only been reported among the cruise ship’s passengers or crew.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general. He added: “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might se emore cases in the coming weeks.”
The latest person confirmed to be infected is a Spanish passenger who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship, Spain’s health ministry said Tuesday. The passenger was in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid.
As I’ve said before, it’s the zero to 60 nature of hantavirus that concerns scares the sh-t out of me as passengers and crew are returning to their home countries. I’m also a bit confused by the reporting I read about testing vs. symptom monitoring. This French woman apparently had no symptoms when she left the cruise, but was she tested? Wasn’t everyone in Tenerife tested as part of leaving the ship, by all the personnel in head-to-toe protective gear? In the WHO’s latest risk assessment they say, “infectiousness peaks in the early phase of illness” and “pre-symptomatic transmission cannot be entirely ruled out.” Those two put together say to me that testing and quarantining are vital preventative measures right now for passengers and crew. For those of us who weren’t on board and/or aren’t close to someone who was, masks are still great! I’ve been wearing them regularly again on the subway and other packed public spaces ever since the flu knocked me on my ass last year. I’ve actually been really encouraged by just how many people I see masking up lately. What a world.
My thoughts go out to this French woman and her loved ones right now.
Photos credit: Europa Press Canarias/Europa Press/Avalon
Is this the same woman whose symptoms were initially dismissed as “anxiety?”
I think it is. They dismissed her symptoms as anxiety, which included flu like symptoms and a cough on board the ship. This is enraging and devastating.
I have not heard about anxiety concerning the French woman. What has been reported here in France was that she tested positive but showed no symptoms when they tested people on board. Then during the night she had symptoms. Those symptoms were developing so fast that she was put in an intensive care unit when she left the boat. She’s only 22 years old. That’s scary.
@MOONDUST omg, I didn’t know she was so young! In my head I thought she was 70-80 like the initial couple who caught it. That is so much sadder.
Blessing to the woman and her family and I hope she recovers from the worst of it. From what I’ve read about the Hantavirus it can take up to 8/10 days for symptoms to show – so its like COVID in that way.
As @velvetess further down says too, the incubation period can be up to eight weeks.
Hanta can already be transmitted starting ~ 48 hours before symptoms appear.
And I don’t get the WHO’s messaging.
My employer, an Institute for Tropical Diseases has — together with similar institutions around the world — classified everyone on board as high risk, passengers and crew.
These institutions also think voluntary quarantine at home won’t work, as we’ve already seen with quite a few cases who thought going out for a beer or taking flights around the world is ok.
The WHO is making the same mistakes they made with Covid: the Andes strain of Hanta *is* airborne, it’s not only close contact that is needed for infection, they’re again not erring on the side of caution, but this time around the disease has a fatality rate of ~ 40%.
The ship’s owners are hugely to blame for this though too: they didn’t report the death of the first passenger* until *21 days* later, and even then they didn’t share about some strange respiratory issues going on aboard.
* They thought the death was from natural causes, but they don’t have a pathology lab on board, much less lab facilities that go beyond the most basic diagnostics.
Masks work.
Disclaimer: working in bio-medical research, specialising in vaccine development
Thank you for doing that vital work, Nanea!
I work for the only school in the U.S. where you can study trop med, and I hope it’s okay to share this quick primer: https://sph.tulane.edu/what-know-about-hantavirus
The Andes strain is super concerning because it does have a higher mortality rate than the kind you’d see around the southwestern U.S. (e.g., how Betsy Arakawa died). This has been handled so incredibly badly all the way around.
Thank you Nanea. A doc I follow on insta said yesterday that with the CDC gutted, and zero (perhaps less than zero) health leadership in the US – that is what makes all of this concerning.
CDC is not requiring any of the US passengers to quarantine. At all.
Thank you Nanea for helpful info, especially the reminder that “masks work.”
Also thank you to Cait for sharing the Tulane link with specifics about this strain of hantavirus, and what’s been happening with people involved in this outbreak.
Wasn’t there 21 passengers who disembarked and flew home before the Dutch couple was diagnosed? I don’t know how the WHO is saying on the people on the ship are at risk.
Here in Australia they’re reporting that it has a 6-8 week incubation period. Outlets are also reporting that people who have disembarked must quarantine and everyone is being tested regularly. But that it is also extremely unlikely to transmit. I’m supposed to travel overseas in ten days and it’s scares the shite out of me. 😳
I’ve heard differently. What I’ve heard is the initial symptoms can show up as soon as a week but because they mimic the flu, people don’t realize what’s happening unless they are aware of and suspecting hantavirus. But viruses can mutate and it sounds like the woman in France got extremely ill fairly quickly.
It’s R0 is greater than 2, so it does transmit, effectively.
fuuuuuuuuuuuu%k
There is no rapid test yet for the virus. I read the woman had a day of coughing that went away. The docs on the ship chalked it up to anxiety. Also you can develop the virus up to two months after infection.
Yeah, I also cough a lot when I get anxiety. 🙄
I remember seeing folks film on the ship & I didn’t see ONE person wearing a mask because they didn’t have any…even though we are STILL IN A PANDEMIC 😲 Masking & disinfecting is now such a natural part of my life…I wear a mask 24/7 when I’m not in my home where I live alone…and no I don’t eat in restaurants and yes I wear my masks even when I’m outside…I have a chronic autoimmune disorder & Long Covid almost TOOK ME TF OUT😠…oh & Hantavirus was just discovered in the Chicagoland area…NOT associated with the ship😱
There are many strains of hantavirus, and the case in Chicago has been confirmed not to have had any contact with any passengers from the cruise ship nor have they travelled internationally. It is highly highly likely that the strain in Chicago is the North American strain which is not known to spread from person to person (the strain causing the cruise ship cases is a different strain which has previously been documented to spread between humans). It’s uncommon, but people do contract hantavirus regularly in North America from exposure to rodent droppings.
The cruise ship outbreak is concerning but there is no reason to think that the case in Chicago is evidence of a wider undetected spread of the Andes strain. If hantavirus were not already in the news it is unlikely that the Chicago case would have even been publicized.
Yes please bring on another pandemic. Exactly what we need right now.
What is really frightening from reading the comments is that there are many versions of basic information from all different countries. This is giving me covid vibes all over again. Absolute shitshow, totally mishandled just like covid. But covid was new, this isn’t and they still can’t figure it out. I never stopped wearing masks and I’m not about to now.
They might as well scrap that ship because I don’t care how intensively it’s disinfected, I’d never board it.
But then again, I’m never going on a cruise. Ever. (A woman I know is on a cruise right now. Her FB photos of a “silent rave” onboard — 60-year-olds writhing to bad music — only added to my anti-cruise sentiments.)
I agree 100%. I wouldn’t step foot on that ship even if they dunked it in bleach & I will never, ever go on a cruise of any length on any boat of any size. Just. no.
I am going on a ferry to France soon. It’s an 8 hour crossing. This news is alarming.
Mask up, people! 😷
We simply cannot pollute our waterways, trash our oceans, frack the earth for (whatever) resources, and destroy half the earth’s species without expecting some pushback from the planet. Now, here in the US, we have anti-vax rampant, we have gutted any scientific research, and villainized anyone who focuses ON the science. If all this isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.
There is a map on USA today showing the 12-13 states where they are tracking passengers and exposures. I cannot upload the link, but I’ll be watching to see if the contacts expand.
Now monitoring 41 people in 16 states.
Start masking up. This is the same administration who would have let Covid kill us all if there wasn’t a Dr. Faucci. Well, they dismantled the CDC and an actual lunatic is in charge of health. They are hiding casualty stats from the War and I don’t trust them NOT to lie about this this virus . Protect yourself and your family, large spaces/groups, wear a mask.
I’ve been masking for the last year. Consciously keeping hands away from my face after i’ve touched things out on the world. Pocket hand sanitizer.
Putting previous protocols back in place. Shop off hours. Bring my own handiwipes to the store. Wipe down everything when I get home. Wash your hands with plenty of soap and water.
Unfortunately, hantavirus isn’t typically detectable by testing until symptoms appear and even early on before symptoms get more severe, it may still be undetected.
my boss kindly gave me a gift card for a cruise for Christmas. Thankfully it does not expire. Now way in hell am I using it this year.