The World Health Organization continues to list the public health risk assessment for this hantavirus outbreak as moderate for anyone who was on the cruise ship MV Hondius, but low for everyone else. Still, the number of cases has now climbed to 11, nine of which have been confirmed as the human transmissible Andes virus. Three people have died, and, unfortunately, it’s looking like a fourth death may be likely. A French woman who disembarked the ship in Tenerife on Sunday or Monday had no symptoms at the time. But mere days later, the woman is in critical condition and only breathing with the aid of an artificial lung. Disconcertingly, the doctor described putting her on the artificial lung as “the final stage of supportive care.” Merde.
A French woman infected in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is critically ill and being treated with an artificial lung, a doctor at the Paris hospital caring for the sickened passenger said Tuesday. The outbreak has now reached 11 total reported cases, 9 of which have been confirmed.
Three people on the cruise died, including a Dutch couple that health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
The French passenger hospitalized in Paris has a severe form of the disease that has caused life-threatening lung and heart problems, said Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital.
He said the woman is on a life-support device that pumps blood through an artificial lung, providing it with oxygen and returning it to the body. The hope is that the device relieves enough pressure on the lungs and heart to give them some time to recover. Lescure called it “the final stage of supportive care.”
With the evacuation of all passengers and many crew members completed, the MV Hondius is now sailing back to the Netherlands, where it will be cleaned and disinfected.
The director of the World Health Organization said confirmed and suspected cases have only been reported among the cruise ship’s passengers or crew.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general. He added: “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might se emore cases in the coming weeks.”
The latest person confirmed to be infected is a Spanish passenger who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship, Spain’s health ministry said Tuesday. The passenger was in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid.
As I’ve said before, it’s the zero to 60 nature of hantavirus that concerns scares the sh-t out of me as passengers and crew are returning to their home countries. I’m also a bit confused by the reporting I read about testing vs. symptom monitoring. This French woman apparently had no symptoms when she left the cruise, but was she tested? Wasn’t everyone in Tenerife tested as part of leaving the ship, by all the personnel in head-to-toe protective gear? In the WHO’s latest risk assessment they say, “infectiousness peaks in the early phase of illness” and “pre-symptomatic transmission cannot be entirely ruled out.” Those two put together say to me that testing and quarantining are vital preventative measures right now for passengers and crew. For those of us who weren’t on board and/or aren’t close to someone who was, masks are still great! I’ve been wearing them regularly again on the subway and other packed public spaces ever since the flu knocked me on my ass last year. I’ve actually been really encouraged by just how many people I see masking up lately. What a world.
My thoughts go out to this French woman and her loved ones right now.
Photos credit: Europa Press Canarias/Europa Press/Avalon
