Microbiologist Professor Paul Hunter has given his verdict on the threat of hantavirus after a British doctor became the latest to fall ill and be evacuated from stricken cruise ship MV Hondius
A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is a vital test case for the threat it poses in future, a top expert says.
Professor Paul Hunter, one of the UK’s top experts in infectious diseases, commented on the outbreak as three more people were evacuated after falling ill. The Dutch vessel, called MV Hondius, had been stranded off the coast of Cape Verde, west Africa, amid a dispute over where the vessel would be allowed to safely dock so passengers, including 19 Brits, can be repatriated.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said eight suspected cases of hantavirus have now been linked to the MV Hondius ship, including three deaths. Two Brits are among those ill with the virus, a passenger who was evacuated to South Africa who remains in a critical but stable condition, and a crew member thought to be the ship’s doctor.
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The British medic was among three people with symptoms who were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday who are now on their way to be treated in the Netherlands.
Prof Paul Hunter, a microbiologist from the University of East Anglia, said: “Sometimes outbreaks happen that affect how we understand a particular infection. This could be very important in understanding how hantavirus spreads from person to person and the authorities will be investigating this very thoroughly. We need to understand how this spread.”
Tourists, many of them pensioners, have been living in close quarters for weeks and sharing dining facilities since the ship set sail from Argentina on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean around a month ago.
Initially experts had cautioned against the idea that there was human-to-human spread of hantavirus as the evidence was disputed as to whether this was even possible.
Professor Hunter said: “I would stress there’s still a lot of uncertainty about how this transmits. Everything is possible. Viruses can evolve to be more transmissible but that might be an assumption too far at the moment. It’s not something we can discount.”
The latest evacuations mean the ship can now continue on its three-day journey to the Canary Islands after Spanish authorities gave permission for the boat to dock. A row had erupted with the president of the Canary Islands expressing concern over the ship docking in Tenerife. It has been anchored off Cape Verde while arrangements were put in place to evacuate the crew members.
Spanish health officials said that the British medic is now in a more “stable condition” after previously being in a “critical condition”.
Prof Hunter said: “The fact that a doctor might have it would fit with the idea that human-to-human transmission had occurred. This virus doesn’t spread that well but when it does it tends to affect healthcare workers because they have to get closer to you than pretty much anyone other than lovers or family.
“Now the evidence of person-to-person transmission is pretty strong but that doesn’t mean it poses a serious risk of onward transmission back in the UK. The risk is to those in very close or prolonged contact.”
Professor Hunter said the virus can have an incubation period of up to several weeks. He said: “There is a low risk of onward transmission in Europe but it’s not impossible. You can be pretty confident that just walking past someone with this [virus] isn’t going to be a risk factor.”
South Africa’s health ministry also confirmed the two passengers tested within the country have the Andes strain of the virus, which though rare, was suspected to be transmittable between humans.
Prof Hunter added: “The finding of the Andes variant strengthens the hypothesis that the initial cases were acquired in Argentina. This is endemic in Argentina and its host is the Long-tail pygmy rice rat, which as far as I know does not occupy ships. The question remains how this infection then spread to the later cases.”
