Hantavirus latest: 22 Britons on board cruise ship hit by outbreak could be flown back to UK on Sunday – UK Times

Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations.

The vessel is expected to arrive Sunday at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, and passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area,” said the head of Spain’s emergency services, Virginia Barcones.

Both the US and the UK have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.

Krutika Kuppalli, associate professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in the US, who formerly worked on mpox protocols at the World Health Organization, said measures to contain the spread of hantavirus could be taken from previous outbreaks.

“It’s the same ​principle as for measles, or Ebola. Contact tracing doesn’t change,” she said.

Our health editor Rebecca Thomas reports:

British military personnel and equipment have been deployed to the islands.

As officials trace contacts from the MV Hondius and those who disembarked the ship, it is understood that British military personnel have been deployed to the islands with equipment to provide support to those on the ground.

Officials are ensuring that members of the population on the islands who did come into contact with passengers are appropriately graded to understand their level of risk with passengers.

It is understood that the virus spreads through close contact.

Thanks to a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, rodents are getting a bad rap – and that’s nothing new, says Joe Shute, who is a staunch admirer of these furry pariahs:

An outbreak of the rare hantavirus unfolded over weeks on a cruise ship as it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

At least three passengers have died and several others are sick and were evacuated from the ship. Health authorities are trying to trace passengers who left the ship previously and people who might have had contact with them.

More than 140 passengers and crew members are still aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius as it heads for Spain’s Canary Islands.

Hantavirus is a rodent-borne infection that in rare cases can be transmitted from person to person, though the World Health Organization says the risk to the wider public is low because the virus can’t easily be passed between people.

The New Jersey Department of Health been notified by the CDC that two New Jersey residents were potentially exposed to a person infected with hantavirus after that individual departed from the cruise ship MV Hondius.

Countries around the world are preparing to deal with the 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands.

The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, early Sunday morning.

At least three passengers have died, and several other people have been infected.

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. The World Health Organization says the risk to the wider public from the outbreak is low, but the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

Some 22 British passengers and crew on board a cruise ship hit by an outbreak of hantavirus are expected to reach Tenerife on Sunday, with the hope of flying them back to the UK the same day.

Officials from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Foreign Office will greet the MV Hondius ship when it docks in the Canary Islands, with Britons on board tested for hantavirus before they disembark.

If people test negative and are not displaying symptoms, they will be taken straight to a dedicated repatriation flight, with the hope they will be flown back to the UK the same day.

That flight will be staffed by medical professionals and will carry equipment and medicines in case people fall ill.The ship is currently on track to dock in Tenerife on Sunday, depending on weather conditions as it sails on a route from the coast off Cape Verde.

The majority of Britons returning are expected to self-isolate at home but the UKHSA is making arrangements for people to stay at other facilities if that is not possible.

It said those details will be released at a further date.