The cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak arrived this morning at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, thus putting an end to a journey that alerted international health authorities. On the Hondius are 25 crew members and two medical professionals, after all passengers disembarked on the island of Saint Helena on April 24, and in Tenerife on May 9 and 10. Upon the vessel’s arrival, the occupants were seen wearing masks on the deck, while the ship was escorted through the port by a tugboat and a Dutch police boat.
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Authorities say the crew will enter quarantine immediately. During the outbreak, three passengers who had been on board the ship died, including a Dutch couple whom health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus during a visit to South America. The Hondius spent the last six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the ship by staff in full protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.
The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Three passengers have died, including a Dutch couple who, according to health authorities, were the first to contract the virus during their visit to South America. The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that one of the four Canadians isolated after disembarking tested positive on Sunday and that it would share the case information with the World Health Organization. The vessel made the journey from Tenerife along the coast of Africa and Europe with 25 crew members and two medical professionals. According to the ship’s operating company, Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board shows symptoms.
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Crew members who cannot return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, according to the Dutch Ministry of Health last week. About twenty passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on a series of flights over the previous two weeks. Eighteen Americans are currently under observation in specialized health centers in the United States, designed to treat people with dangerous infectious diseases. Once all passengers have disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated following Dutch public health guidelines. “Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that cleaners do not have to quarantine after cleaning,” the Ministry of Health said in a letter to the Dutch Parliament last week.
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Public health officials will inspect the ship before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship. The Dutch company owning the cruise said it does not foresee any changes in its operations. It has an Arctic cruise departing from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29. The Pasteur Institute of France said on Saturday that it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger of the MV Hondius cruise and found it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new features that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.
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