Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Docks in Netherlands for Disinfection

A cruise ship affected by a lethal hantavirus outbreak docked in the Netherlands for disinfection on Monday.

The MV Hondius arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam with 25 crew members and two medical personnel aboard, after all passengers disembarked at other locations. The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, reported that no one on board currently exhibits symptoms.

Authorities set up white containers near the dock for quarantine. Crew members will enter immediate quarantine, and those unable to be repatriated will stay in these containers.

Three passengers died, including a Dutch couple believed by health officials to have been the first exposed to the virus during a visit to South America.

The MV Hondius sailed for the past six days from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were evacuated and placed on flights to more than 20 countries for quarantine.

At least 11 infections occurred on the ship, with nine confirmed.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that one of four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive on Sunday. It said it would share information with the World Health Organization.

Late Sunday, the WHO maintained its assessment of the hantavirus outbreak as “low risk.”

“While additional cases may still occur among passengers and crew members exposed before containment measures were implemented, the risk of onward transmission is expected to be reduced following disembarkation and the implementation of control measures,” the WHO said.

Crew members unable to return home will quarantine in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said last week. About two dozen passengers and crew members have already been in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving on different flights in the last two weeks.

After all disembark, the ship will be decontaminated according to Dutch public health guidelines.

“Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the Health Ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the ship before it can sail again. The outbreak on Hondius is the first known hantavirus case on a cruise ship.

France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday it fully sequenced the Andes virus from a French passenger on the Hondius and found it matches known South American viruses, with no evidence of new characteristics increasing transmissibility or danger.