French woman evacuated from cruise ship tests positive for hantavirus

A French woman evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus, and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French health minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.

The woman was among five French passengers aboard the cruise ship who were repatriated to Paris on Sunday. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, Rist told public broadcaster France-Inter.

Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks had escorted the travellers from the ship to shore in Tenerife in an effort that was continuing Monday.

The World Health Organisation recommended close monitoring of the former passengers, and many countries quarantined them.

US officials said late Sunday that one American among the 17 being flown to Nebraska tested positive for hantavirus but has no symptoms.

Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organisation, and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.

All of the passengers were escorted on Sunday from the ship to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. The planes arriving in Tenerife were to fly out passengers from more than 20 countries in an evacuation effort that was running into Monday.

Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier were infected.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak. "This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn't be scared, and they shouldn't panic," he said Sunday.

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

WHO is recommending that passengers' home countries "have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility," said Maria van Kerkhove, the organization's top epidemiologist.

Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.