THE HAGUE : A cruise ship which sparked a global health alert over a deadly outbreak of hantavirus was on Saturday cleared to put to sea again after cleaning and disinfection.&nbsp;&quot;From a public health perspective, there are no longer any obstacles to putting the Hondius back to sea,&quot; the public health agency in the Dutch port of Rotterdam said following a final inspection on Friday.&nbsp;During the checks, infection control experts &quot;determined that the Hondius had been cleaned effectively and that disinfection had been carried out in accordance with established guidelines,&quot; a statement said.&nbsp;The owner of the MV Hondius, Oceanwide Expeditions, this week said that the Hondius would leave Rotterdam once inspections were complete, and that it would resume its cruise schedule from June 13.&nbsp;The Hondius was sailing from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde when its journey was disrupted after three passengers died following the hantavirus outbreak. Some passengers had left the ship at the island of St Helena before the alert was raised.&nbsp;Hantavirus is a rare virus spread by rodents for which no vaccines or specific treatments exist.&nbsp;Most passengers were taken off the ship on Tenerife in Spain&#39;s Canary Islands, then flown back to their home countries.&nbsp;The Dutch-flagged ship arrived on May 18 in Rotterdam, Europe&#39;s largest port, where the remainder of its crew was placed in quarantine.&nbsp;The World Health Organization has to date recorded 13 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak, including the three people who died.

Europe

The cruise ship MV Hondius was cleared to sail after thorough cleaning and disinfection in Rotterdam following a hantavirus outbreak. The outbreak caused 13 confirmed cases and three deaths. The ship is expected to resume cruises on June 13.

Dutch health officials clear hantavirus ship to sail again

MONTREAL: Canadian public health officials said Saturday a &quot;high risk&quot; passenger who was aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius tested &quot;presumptive positive&quot; for the Andes hantavirus.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;The Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement that officials from the western province of British Columbia &quot;reported that one of the four high-risk individuals who was self-isolating and being monitored for symptoms has tested presumptive positive for Andes hantavirus.&quot;&nbsp;The Andes strain of hantavirus is the only one known to spread between people.&nbsp;Globally, the death toll remains at three.&nbsp;The patient and their spouse, who reported minor symptoms, were transported to a hospital on Friday, where they will remain in isolation, officials said.&nbsp;&quot;Out of an abundance of caution, a third individual who was in secure lodging for isolation has been transferred to hospital for assessment and testing,&quot; the statement said.&nbsp;Results of tests to confirm hantavirus infection were expected in the next couple of days.&nbsp;&quot;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,&quot; the public health agency stressed.&nbsp;No vaccines or specific treatments for hantavirus exist, but health officials have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Canadian officials report a cruise passenger from the MV Hondius tested presumptive positive for Andes hantavirus. Three deaths have been reported globally, while authorities say the overall public risk in Canada remains low.

Canada cruise passenger 'presumptive positive' for hantavirus

SYDNEY: A passenger from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship is in quarantine on tiny Pitcairn Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty. The woman, a US citizen, journeyed halfway across the globe to reach remote Pitcairn Island after disembarking the cruise ship in Saint Helena, authorities said. &quot;We can confirm that someone who had contact with a hantavirus-exposed individual is currently isolating on Pitcairn Island, showing no signs of illness,&quot; said a Pitcairn government spokesman. &quot;We are working closely with the health authorities and the UK Government to manage the situation. The wellbeing of our community remains the top priority.&quot; It was not clear how long the woman might be stuck on Pitcairn Island or how she will be isolated from the around 50 people who call the British territory home. Pitcairn Islanders contacted by AFP said they had been advised against speaking with journalists and should pass all questions on to government officials. It was no small effort for the jet-setting American to reach Pitcairn Island, which bills itself as a &quot;must see for adventurous travellers seeking truly remote horizons&quot;. She first flew from San Francisco to Tahiti and then onwards to the isle of Mangareva in outer French Polynesia. From Mangareva most tourists reach Pitcairn by hitching a 32-hour ride on one of the cargo ships that shuttle back and forth every few days. The government of French Polynesia said she had done all this without telling authorities of her possible exposure to hantavirus. She will not be allowed to leave the island as long as she &quot;poses a risk to others&quot;, the government said in a statement earlier this week. The UK government -- which counts Pitcairn as an overseas territory -- said the woman was not symptomatic, but it was still taking a &quot;precautionary approach&quot;. There is only one grocery store on Pitcairn Island, which typically opens three times a week. The nearest hospitals are in French Polynesia, some 1,350 miles (2,170 kilometres) to the northwest, or New Zealand, about 5,300 kilometres (3,300 miles) southwest. Three people died after the rare rat-borne hantavirus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare. Health authorities have repeatedly emphasised that the broader risk to public health from the outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus &nbsp;the only one known to spread between people is low. Globally, the death toll remains at three. No vaccines or specific treatments exist, but health officials have said the risk is low and have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pitcairn Islands were colonised in 1790 by the mutinous crew of the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty, led by the master&#39;s mate Fletcher Christian. Their actions, casting adrift the ship&#39;s captain William Bligh, have been immortalised in books and film. Pitcairn&#39;s people are descended from the mutineers and their Tahitian companions.

Independent CONICET researcher and National University of Cordoba associate professor Raul Gonzalez Ittig holds a preserved specimen of a Graomys chacoensis rodent inside the Population Genetics and Evolution Laboratory of the Institute of Diversity and A

Australasia

A US woman exposed to hantavirus from the MV Hondius cruise ship is quarantined on remote Pitcairn Island, raising concerns among its tiny isolated community.

Articles tagged with "MV Hondius"

Dutch health officials clear hantavirus ship to sail again

Canada cruise passenger 'presumptive positive' for hantavirus

Passenger from hantavirus cruise quarantines on remote Pitcairn Island

Dutch health officials clear hantavirus ship to sail again