“This is not COVID,” a Who The agency is continuing to coordinate the response to the deadly outbreak on a cruise ship moored in Cabo Verde, the spokesman told reporters at a briefing in Geneva.
To date, three people on the Dutch-flagged ship Hondius have died and several others have fallen ill, prompting a major international public health response involving countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America.
“Let’s not forget the couples who were in close proximity… We got negative test results from a flight attendant who handled the sick woman, who died shortly after and was feeling extremely unwell. Now almost everyone should be convinced that this is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who is actually infected. And the risk to the general population is very low” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
According to WHO, eight cases of infection have been reported so far, including five laboratory-confirmed infections and three suspected cases involving the rare Andes strain of hantavirus.
There is no comparison with Covid
“I need to emphasize again and again that even people who are sharing a cabin do not seem to be infected in some cases…It’s not spreading anything the way COVID was spreading” Mr. Lindmeier said.
Beyond the Hantius cruise liner where the outbreak was first reported, contact tracing of potentially infected individuals continues.
“It’s tracking everyone. It’s looking at seat listings on planes, ships, maybe even more than that, retracing someone’s steps, seeing where they might have been or been in close contact with,” Mr. Lindmeier said.
According to WHO, transmission generally requires close and prolonged contact, especially between household members, intimate partners or healthcare workers.
Still, the wife whose infected husband is being treated in a Swiss hospital has “no symptoms and is self-isolating…so this shows you again, fortunately, clearly the virus is not that contagious,” Mr. Lindmeier said.
The first known patient developed symptoms on 6 April and later died on board the ship. His wife also became ill and died after being flown to South Africa, where laboratory testing confirmed hantavirus infection.
rodent risk
Before boarding, the pair had traveled to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip, which included visiting places where rodent species carrying the virus are present.
Another passenger died on 2 May and while one man remains in intensive care in South Africa, WHO said his condition was improving. Other patients have been transferred to hospitals in the Netherlands for treatment.
WHO said that none of the passengers or crew currently remaining on the ship are showing symptoms.
Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses spread by rodents and usually spread to humans through contact with infected animals or their urine, saliva or droppings (Checkout WHO’s Hantavirus factsheet here).
The Andes strain, found in parts of Latin America, is the only known hantavirus capable of limited human-to-human transmission.
The outbreak has triggered action under the International Health Regulations, a global framework designed to coordinate responses to cross-border health threats.
WHO said it was working closely with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, as well as authorities in Cabo Verde, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Argentina.
