The head of the World Health Organization has told countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases as authorities in Paris said a French woman who contracted the virus onboard the cruise ship MV Hondius had the most severe form of the disease and had been put on a ventilator.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Spain for the “compassion and solidarity” it had shown by taking in the stricken cruise ship and urged authorities to follow the WHO’s advice and recommendations, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.
“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,” he told a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday.
The WHO has so far confirmed nine cases of the Andes variant of the virus, among them a French woman and a US national who tested positive after being evacuated from the ship.
Health officials in Paris said late on Tuesday that the French patient had been moved to intensive care with “the most severe form of cardiopulmonary presentation”.
Dr Xavier Lescure told reporters the 65-year-old had pre-existing conditions, but gave no further details. “She is on an artificial lung and a blood bypass to allow her, we hope, to get through this stage,” he said.
The Spanish health ministry said that one of the 14 Spaniards evacuated from the ship and put in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid had tested positive for hantavirus and was showing symptoms.
“The patient who tested provisionally positive yesterday has been confirmed positive for hantavirus,” it said in a statement. “The patient presented with a low-grade fever and mild respiratory symptoms yesterday but is currently stable and shows no evident clinical deterioration.”
“We would expect more cases because, as you may remember, the index case – the first case in the ship – was on 6 April … [and] there was a lot of interaction, actually, with the passengers. And as you know, the incubation period is also six to eight weeks.
“So, because of the interaction while they were still in the ship – especially before they started taking some infectious prevention measures – because of the interaction, we would expect more cases because of some of what happened during the travel.”
Tedros said individual countries were now responsible for their citizens after the evacuation, adding: “I hope they will take care of the patients and the passengers, helping them and also protecting their citizens as well. That’s what we expect.”