Canada Confirms First Hantavirus Case in British Columbia

Canadian officials said Saturday that a test for one of the four Canadians currently quarantining in British Columbia after exposure to hantavirus while aboard the cruise ship where the outbreak occurred indicated a positive result.

Speaking at a news conference, Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the individual developed mild symptoms, including fever and headache, two days ago, and that the individual and their partner, who had also been on board the cruise ship and had been isolating together, were transferred to a hospital in Victoria for assessment and testing.

Henry said late Friday evening the test results for the individual who had been experiencing mild symptoms came back positive, but she stressed the results were currently “what we call a presumptive positive” and that the samples have been sent to the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing. Results from those tests were expected over the weekend, Henry said.

“Clearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” she said.

“The patient is stable, and their symptoms remain mild,” Henry said. “And they are still in hospital, in isolation, being monitored and receiving care as needed.”

The patient’s partner tested negative but will also remain in hospital for further monitoring and assessment, Henry said.

Out of what Henry described as “an abundance of caution,” the third individual who had been isolating in the same lodging has also been transferred to hospital for monitoring. The fourth person continues to isolate at home under daily observation, she said.

The four Canadians who had been on board the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, where the hantavirus outbreak occurred, arrived in Victoria on May 10, Henry said. She added that on arrival, all four were assessed and none had any symptoms.

They were transferred directly to lodgings to begin a quarantine period of at least 21 days.

Meanwhile, France’s Pasteur Institute said it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the MV Hondius and found that it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.

Pasteur said genomic analysis confirmed the virus found in the French passenger matched the virus detected in other cases aboard the ship and closely resembled known Andes virus samples circulating in South America.

Pasteur said the viruses detected in patients from the ship were identical to each other and about 97% similar to some Andes viruses circulating in South America, including those identified in rodents.

Jean-Claude Manuguerra, who heads Pasteur’s environment and infectious risk unit, said the remaining variation appeared to reflect natural viral variation and did not seem to affect the characteristics of the virus detected among travellers.

Since April 11, three people who were on board the cruise ship have died of suspected hantavirus infections, including a Dutch couple and a German woman.