MV Hondius passenger misdiagnosed with 'anxiety' amid hantavirus outbreak

Spanish doctors told a woman who tested positive for hantavirus that it was ‘probably just anxiety’.

The French national became sickened with the rare disease after being evacuated from the MV Hondius at Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday.

Yet doctors from the Spanish foreign health service shrugged off her symptoms as due to stress or anxiety, Spain’s health minister said.

Javier Padilla Bernáldez was quoted by The Guardian as saying: ‘They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus.

‘Why? Because what she was telling [them] was [that she had] an episode of coughing some days ago that had disappeared, and what she was having at that moment was kind of like stress or anxiety or nervousness.

‘So it was not catalogued [as hantavirus].’

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The World Health Organization said the woman was in ‘very critical’ condition.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control told that health checks on board were conducted by medical doctors on the ship.

A specialist in how diseases spread, called an epidemiologist, is on the ship but did not carry out clinical examinations of passengers.

Three people have died in the nearly six weeks since the MV Hondius left Argentina for remote islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

At least seven other people who were on the ship have fallen ill or tested positive.

WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters this morning that there is ‘no sign’ that a hantavirus pandemic is on the cards.

But he cautioned that more hantavirus cases are likely, given that symptoms can sometimes take up to eight weeks to show.

‘While they were still on the ship, even if they were taking some preventive measures…. we would expect more cases,’ he added.

WHO defines a pandemic as ‘the worldwide spread of a new disease’.

Twelve Dutch hospital workers at the Radboudumc university medical centre have been quarantined over fears they have been infected.

The staff did not follow strict protocol when taking blood from a hantavirus patient evacuated from the ship, the hospital said yesterday.

Staff also did not properly dispose of the patient’s urine – the team will be in quarantine for six weeks.

Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said yesterday evening that 87 guests and 35 crew have been flown back home so far.

This includes 20 British holidaymakers now isolating at a Merseyside hospital.

Twenty-seven people, mostly workers or medical professionals, are still on board the ship.

The ship, which is on its way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, is currently sailing away from the Canary Islands, according to tracker MarineTraffic.

What is hantavirus?

Hantavirus, sometimes called the ‘rat virus’, is a rare family of pathogens carried by rodents – there is no vaccine or cure.

The virus spreads through contact with the faeces, urine and saliva of infected rodents.

Early symptoms can be easily mistaken for the flu, such as fever, chills or body aches, but can escalate to heart or lung failure.

At the centre of the cruise outbreak is the Andes strain, which is endemic to South America, including Argentina, where the ship departed on April 1.

Dr Stathis Giotis, a lecturer in life sciences at the University of Essex, told that the Andes hantavirus is the only known strain that can be spread from human to human, though cases of this are few and far between.

‘It is clearly a serious situation for those directly affected and it deserves careful public health follow-up, but there is no evidence at present that this represents a broader epidemic threat,’ he said.

People who may get in contact with rat droppings, like agricultural workers or people simply cleaning their sheds, are at high risk.

Passenger dead and 2,000 in quarantine on cruise ship after ‘norovirus outbreak’

Meanwhile, a British passenger has died and dozens are ill following a suspected norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship with nearly 2,000 people on board.

French health officials have confined 1,700 tourists and crew on the Ambassador Cruise Line ship in Bordeaux, southwestern France, after concerns over a passenger’s death.

Dozens of people are showing symptoms of the sickness bug, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

The vessel, with the majority of the passengers from Britain or Ireland, docked near Bordeaux yesterday, where health authorities embarked to collect samples for testing.

Ambassador Cruise Line told that a 92-year-old male guest on the ship passed away on Sunday, May 10.

Ambassador Cruise Line said the passenger didn’t report any gastroenteritis symptoms, and the cause of death is yet to be confirmed by the coroner.

A further 49 people have shown symptoms of the highly infectious illness, which can spread through surfaces and on contact. This is around 2.9% of people on board the vessel.

Cases reported on board increased after more guests embarked from Liverpool on Saturday, May 9, Ambassador Cruise Line said.

It said in a statement: ‘We are providing every support to the deceased’s friends and family and extend our most sincere condolences to them at this difficult time.’

The company said any illnesses aboard are taken ‘extremely seriously,’ and that enhanced sanitation and prevention measures were immediately put into place across the ship in line with public health procedures.

‘The comprehensive health and safety measures introduced include increased cleaning and disinfection measures in public areas, assisted service in selected dining venues and ongoing guidance to guests regarding hand hygiene, including regular hand washing, use of hand sanitisers and the prompt reporting of any symptoms to the onboard medical team,’ Ambassador Cruise Line said.

All passengers and crew have been told to stay on board the cruise as per instructions from the French authorities, with all shore trips cancelled.

Passengers will be allowed to leave after they have been given clearance from the officials.

The cruise ship had left the Shetland Islands on May 6 before stopping in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

From there, it continued to Liverpool and to Brest in western France before heading to Bordeaux.

It was due to travel on to Spain before the suspected infection put a stop to the journey.

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