Canadian cruise passenger confirmed positive for hantavirus

MONTREAL: A Canadian who was aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has tested positive for the Andes hantavirus, public health officials said on Sunday.

The patient was one of four Canadians aboard the hantavirus-stricken vessel, which set sail on April 1 from Argentina on a course across the Atlantic Ocean until the outbreak of the rare rodent-carried disease.

"One individual's sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus on May 16," a statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada said Sunday.

"A second individual who was a travelling partner of the confirmed case was confirmed negative" by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, it said.

No further cases have been identified, the agency said.

"The overall risk to the general population in Canada from the Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship remains low at this time," the agency stressed.

The Andes strain of hantavirus is the only one known to spread between people.

Globally, the death toll remains at three.

No vaccines or specific treatments for hantavirus exist, but health officials have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.