France and the United States confirm hantavirus positives among their repatriated from the cruise

BarcelonaAfter the evacuation of the passengers trapped on the MV Hondius and the operation of their return home, new hantavirus contagions are beginning to appear, as had already been predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO). There are two cases. The first is a woman who was among the five French people evacuated from the cruise ship from Tenerife to Paris and who already presented symptoms of hantavirus. The tourist has tested positive for the disease, according to the Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist. The woman presented the first symptoms while flying to the French capital from the Canary Islands and her health status "has worsened tonight," according to Rist. Furthermore, she also reported that 22 French people have been identified as contacts of the woman and will be placed in isolation.

On the other hand, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has reported that one of the 17 citizens of the country who were traveling on the cruise ship affected by the outbreak and who are being repatriated has tested mildly positive for the Andes strain of the virus, and a second has mild symptoms. All U.S. citizens are being transported by helicopter to the United States, and the two passengers with symptoms are traveling in the aircraft's biocontainment units, according to the same source.

The hantavirus outbreak detected on the MV Hondius cruise ship thus brings the total to a dozen contagions, of which three are fatal, according to the current tally. The tourists repatriated on board to their countries will follow strict isolation and sanitary control measures because they are still within the incubation period of the disease, so it is not ruled out that new cases may be confirmed, as admitted by the WHO. In the case of the Spaniards, transferred by plane from Tenerife to the Gómez Ulla military hospital in Madrid, they are expected to undergo quarantine until next June 17.