One Swiss among crew of hantavirus-hit cruise ship
A Swiss national is among the crew onboard the cruise ship Hondius, which has been affected by an outbreak of the hantavirus. The man has no symptoms but is a contact case, said the director of the Federal Office of Public Health.
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One Swiss among crew of hantavirus-hit cruise ship
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The Swiss man had contact with infected people on board and is still on the affected ship. “Fortunately, he is doing well,” said Anne Lévy, Director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), speaking to Swiss public radio SRF. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is now responsible for the cases onboard. As soon as the ship arrives on the island of Tenerife, the WHO will decide what to do with the patients, Lévy added.
The operator Oceanwide Expeditions explained that no one on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms. According to the operator, the ship is expected to arrive in the harbour of Granadilla on Tenerife on Sunday morning.
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WHO seeks to calm concerns over hantavirus
After docking in the harbour of the Spanish island off the west coast of Africa, the medical steps and the possible journey home of the passengers would be in the hands of the authorities. The ship had set off from Cape Verde on Wednesday evening in the direction of the Canary Islands. The Hondius had originally started its journey in the south of Argentina at the beginning of April.
In an update late on Friday evening, the WHO spoke of six confirmed hantavirus cases and two suspected cases. Three of these eight people have died. They are an elderly couple from the Netherlands and a woman from Germany.
Swiss patient in good condition
The Swiss patient who contracted hantavirus on the cruise ship is still being treated at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ). The FOPH is in contact with him and his condition is good, Lévy told SRF. In response to a question from the Keystone-SDA news agency, the USZ announced on Saturday afternoon that the man had been “stable since his admission on May 4”.
According to the FOPH, his wife is still in self-quarantine as a precautionary measure. The couple had already left the cruise ship at the end of April and returned to Switzerland. The husband subsequently developed symptoms.
+ Man with hantavirus being treated at Zurich University Hospital
A person living in Geneva is also quarantining at home. She was on a flight from the island of St. Helena to Johannesburg in South Africa, on which a seriously ill person was also travelling, the FOPH said on Friday. This Geneva resident had not been on board the cruise ship.
“It’s nice to see that people are extremely responsible,” said Lévy on the self-quarantine of those affected. Meanwhile, the FOPH does not expect any more infections in Switzerland: “It takes a few days to find out whether someone is ill or not. Based on the fact that no one has come forward so far, we are confident,” said Lévy.
Translated from German with AI/gw
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