An ambulance enters the Bichat Hospital the place a girl who examined constructive for hantavirus stays in intensive care, in Paris, Tuesday, Could 12, 2026.
Michel Euler/AP
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Michel Euler/AP
PARIS — A French girl contaminated within the lethal hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is critically unwell and being handled with a synthetic lung, a physician on the Paris hospital caring for the sickened passenger stated Tuesday. The outbreak has now reached 11 complete reported instances, 9 of which have been confirmed.
Three individuals on the cruise died, together with a Dutch couple that well being officers imagine have been the primary uncovered to the virus whereas visiting South America.
The French passenger hospitalized in Paris has a extreme type of the illness that has brought about life-threatening lung and coronary heart issues, stated Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious illness specialist at Bichat Hospital.
He stated the lady is on a life-support system that pumps blood by way of a synthetic lung, offering it with oxygen and returning it to the physique. The hope is that the system relieves sufficient stress on the lungs and coronary heart to offer them a while to recuperate. Lescure referred to as it “the final stage of supportive care.”
With the evacuation of all passengers and lots of crew members accomplished, the MV Hondius is now crusing again to the Netherlands, the place it will likely be cleaned and disinfected.
Director Basic of the World Well being Group (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offers a press convention on the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Tuesday, Could 12, 2026.
Carlos Lujan/AP/Europa Press
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Carlos Lujan/AP/Europa Press
The director of the World Well being Group stated confirmed and suspected instances have solely been reported among the many cruise ship’s passengers or crew.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” stated Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director basic. He added: “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
The most recent individual confirmed to be contaminated is a Spanish passenger who examined constructive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship, Spain’s well being ministry stated Tuesday. The passenger was in quarantine at a army hospital in Madrid.
Well being authorities say it’s the first hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. Whereas there isn’t a treatment or vaccine for hantavirus, the WHO says early detection and therapy improves survival charges.
Argentina sending specialists to research supply of outbreak
Argentina’s well being ministry stated Tuesday a staff of scientific specialists might be dispatched within the coming days to research the origin of outbreak.
A Dutch couple, recognized by the WHO as the primary cruise passengers contaminated with hantavirus, spent a number of months in Argentina and neighboring South American international locations earlier than boarding the cruise ship. The husband and spouse later died.
Map displaying the areas of hantavirus instances from the MV Hondius.
Will Jarrett/AP
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Will Jarrett/AP
Argentine officers have stated the couple took a bird-watching tour that included a cease at a rubbish dump the place they might have been uncovered to rodents carrying the an infection. The well being ministry stated its staff will examine the landfill and different areas the couple visited the place rats recognized to hold the virus are discovered, though native officers within the province the place the cruise departed have challenged the speculation it started there.
The evacuation of the MV Hondius is full
A complete of 87 passengers and 35 crew have been escorted from the ship to shore in Tenerife by personnel in full-body protecting gear and respiration masks in a fastidiously choreographed effort that ended Monday night time.
Two plane arrived within the southern Dutch metropolis of Eindhoven in a single day carrying Dutch nationals in addition to passengers from Australia and New Zealand and crew members from the Philippines. All have been positioned into quarantine, based on the Dutch authorities.
Some crew stayed aboard the ship and set course for the Dutch port metropolis of Rotterdam, stated ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions.
Hantavirus often spreads from rodent droppings and isn’t simply transmitted between individuals. However the Andes virus detected within the cruise ship outbreak might be able to unfold between individuals in uncommon instances. Signs — which might embody fever, chills and muscle aches — often present between one and eight weeks after publicity.
WHO chief Tedros has suggested that returning passengers ought to keep in quarantine, both of their houses or in different amenities, for 42 days. He added that WHO can’t implement its steering, and that totally different international locations could deal with the monitoring of passengers with out signs in several methods.
Dutch hospital employees quarantined
Twelve staff at a Dutch hospital the place a passenger from the Hondius is being handled should quarantine for six weeks after improperly dealing with bodily fluids, Radboud College Medical Heart stated in a press release Monday night time.
The “risk of infection is low” the hospital stated, nevertheless it was requiring the dozen staff to enter preventive quarantine as a “precaution.”
The hospital within the japanese metropolis of Nijmegen acquired a passenger final week from one of many evacuation flights that landed within the Netherlands and the individual has since examined constructive for hantavirus.
Blood and urine from the affected person ought to have been dealt with “according to a stricter procedure,” the hospital stated.
