Canadian passenger on MV Hondius suspected of having Hantavirus

Moscow (ANTARA) - One of the four Canadian citizens evacuated on May 10 from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, where a hantavirus outbreak occurred, is suspected of contracting the disease.

According to Canadian Press on Saturday, citing local health officials, the patient, whose name and gender have not been disclosed, has tested “presumptively positive” for hantavirus and is awaiting confirmation from a microbiology laboratory.

The patient remains in isolation since arriving in Canada, with no contact with the public, so there is no risk of a pandemic, the source said.

According to the source, the initial symptoms of exposure to hantavirus include headache and fever - which began to appear two days ago, but the patient’s condition is now stable.

A deadly outbreak of hantavirus was reported on board the MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed seven infections, three of which were fatal. Last week, the ship arrived off the coast of Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Hantavirus is a group of viruses transmitted to humans through contact with rodents. The virus can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Source: Sputnik