Hantavirus outbreak: WHO confirms 3 deaths after 5 verified cases of virus, 3 suspected

Описание: World Health Organization (WHO) officials held a press conference Thursday, providing an update about a deadly hantavirus outbreak — the Andean strain in particular — linked to a Dutch cruise ship travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus verified five cases of the virus, noting another three are suspected among the nearly 150 passengers initially aboard the MV Hondius vessel when it departed in April. Three passengers have succumbed to hantavirus.

The first cases were confirmed after the death of a Dutch couple. The 70-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife “travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present,” Ghebreyesus told reporters.

Officials are searching for over 30 passengers who disembarked the Hondius on April 24 without contact tracing, nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board. Among them are two Canadians whom Ghebreyesus said the Public Health Agency of Canada is actively following up on.

When asked if the hantavirus outbreak is comparable to the “early days or weeks of the Coronavirus pandemic,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness, said, “This is not coronavirus.”

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