There is “no sign” of a larger hantavirus outbreak after the evacuation of the last passengers from a disease-stricken cruise ship, the head of the UN health agency has said.
But the World Health Organisation’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned “the situation could change” and there could still be more confirmed virus cases.
The MV Hondius left Spain’s Tenerife island on Monday and is sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Two flights with the final group of 28 passengers landed in nearby Eindhoven on Tuesday.
Three people have died after travelling on the ship. An American and a French national who previously returned home have tested positive. Overall, seven cases have been confirmed.
Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital are now in quarantine over possible exposure to the virus after treating one of the evacuated passengers.
The hospital in the city of Nijmegen said on Monday that this was a precautionary measure, as the workers did not follow strict protocols while handling the patient’s blood and urine samples.
At Tuesday’s press conference in Madrid, Ghebreyesus said: “At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak.
“But of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
And he stressed that “our work is not over” to contain the outbreak from the cruise ship.
Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents, but human transmission of the Andes strain – which the World Health Organization (WHO) believes some of the ship’s passengers contracted in South America – is possible.
Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and shortness of breath.
WHO officials previously said the risk of a major outbreak is very low.
The Dutch-flagged vessel is expected to take six days to sail to Rotterdam and provisionally arrive on the evening of 17 May.
Exact procedures upon arrival remain under discussion, the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expedition said, but the vessel will undergo sanitation.
The final six passengers – four Australians, one Briton and one New Zealander – and some crew members left the ship on Monday.
Overall, 122 passengers and crew of the MV Hondius have been repatriated to the Netherlands and their home countries on government-chartered flights over the past few days.
