Washington, May 11 (IANS). An American passenger aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius has tested positive for the Hantavirus virus, while another passenger has mild symptoms. This information was given by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The department gave this information on social media platform X. Also told that all the 17 American citizens present on MV Hondius are being brought to America through special airlift. As a precautionary measure, the infected and suspected passenger has been kept in the biocontainment unit of the aircraft.
As per the protocol, the passengers will first be taken to the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. The passenger with mild symptoms will then be transferred to another RESPTC at his final destination.
According to the department, every passenger will be medically examined upon arrival and appropriate treatment and assistance will be provided as per the situation.
As of Saturday, eight suspected cases and three deaths linked to the outbreak had been reported.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the incubation period of Hantavirus, i.e. the time from infection to the appearance of symptoms, can be one to eight weeks.
This virus usually spreads through rodents (mice etc.). In rare cases, it can also spread from person to person. The mortality rate among those infected is said to be more than one-third.
On the other hand, in Britain also, 20 British citizens evacuated from MV Hondius were isolated in a hospital in north-west England on Sunday.
After reaching Manchester, these passengers were taken by bus to Arrow Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, where they will be kept under medical observation for 72 hours.
Local National Health Service (NHS) officials issued a joint statement. He said these people would be kept in a controlled environment for “clinical evaluation and testing”. If they show no symptoms, they will be allowed to return home, but will have to self-isolate for an additional 42 days.
The British Government clarified that all passengers and crew members returning from the MV Hondius will be kept under observation and isolation for a total of 45 days. Besides, people who came in contact with the infected or suspects are also being traced.
These emergency measures have been taken following the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius. Meanwhile, the British government has also sent a special military and medical team to its remote overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, where Hantavirus has been confirmed in a British citizen.
The British Defense Ministry said that six paratroopers and two military doctors from 16 Air Assault Brigade were landed on the island with the help of parachutes. Oxygen cylinders and medical equipment were also transported by air.
The Tristan da Cunha volcanic island group, with a population of 221 people, is considered to be Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory. There is no airstrip and access is generally only by sea.
The Defense Ministry said that this is the first time that the British Army has dropped medical personnel via parachute for humanitarian aid. Along with this, the British government said that the risk of this virus to the general public is “very low”.
–IANS
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