French Hantavirus Patient in Critical Condition as Outbreak Grows to 11 Cases

Evacuation and Quarantine Measures

The evacuation of the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of the outbreak, has been completed. A total of 87 passengers and 35 crew were escorted from the ship to shore in Tenerife by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks in a carefully choreographed effort that ended Monday night. All were placed into quarantine, according to the Dutch government.

WHO chief Tedros has advised that returning passengers should stay in quarantine, either in their homes or in other facilities, for 42 days.

International Response and Investigation

Argentina’s health ministry announced Tuesday that a team of scientific experts will be dispatched in the coming days to investigate the origin of the outbreak. The team will examine the landfill and other locations visited by the couple where rats known to carry the virus are found. However, local officials in the province where the cruise departed have challenged the theory that the outbreak began there.

In Europe, cooperation on hantavirus response has been described as "very, very strong" by the head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Pamela Rendi-Wagner. She noted that "there were meetings every day" between countries and technical experts since the outbreak was reported on May 2.

Hospital Precautions and Patient Care

The French patient in critical condition is receiving what a medical professional described as "the final stage of supportive care." Lescure, a doctor involved in the case, called it "the final stage of supportive care."

Meanwhile, a hospital in the eastern Dutch city of Nijmegen received a passenger last week from one of the evacuation flights that landed in the Netherlands. The person has since tested positive for hantavirus. The hospital stated that the "risk of infection is low" but required a dozen employees to go into preventive quarantine as a "precaution." Blood and urine from the patient should have been handled "according to a stricter procedure," the hospital added.