Scientific mission, in Ushuaia, to find out the origin of hantavirus contamination. When the first results are expected
An Argentinian scientific mission will travel to Ushuaia next week to investigate the possible presence of hantavirus-carrying rodents in the area, a local health authority announced, according to BFMTV, quoted by News.ro. The cruise ship MV Hondius, on board of which an outbreak of hantavirus broke out resulting in three deaths, left Ushuaia on April 1 with a Dutchman on board who was the first to show symptoms of hantavirus.
“The idea is to take samples (from the rodents) next week,” Tierra del Fuego province epidemiology department director Juan Petrina told media in Ushuaia, without specifying how many rodents would need to be captured.
After the tests, “the results are supposed to be ready in four weeks,” he added.
Negative tests for contacts in France
All contact cases from France, passengers of the MV Hondius or identified after flying with a person infected with hantavirus, have tested negative for the virus, the health minister announced on Thursday. It is about 26 people. All are asymptomatic but remain in strict isolation.
“As a precaution against a disease whose mortality is estimated between 30 and 40% and a long incubation period”, these 26 people are “all placed in hospital isolation” and “will continue to be medically monitored and tested 3 times a week”, said Stéphanie Rist, the Minister of Health.
These 26 people can still develop the virus if they are carriers, with the virus having a maximum incubation period estimated at 42 days. But the negative tests confirm that the virus has not developed in them to date and indicates, at the current state of knowledge, that they were never contagious.
“It's very good news,” Karine Lacombe, head of the department of infectious and tropical diseases at the Saint-Antoine hospital (Paris), told AFP. “Even if they were to become 'positive' later, they could not have infected anyone before,” the doctor explained. And given that “they are all currently isolated,” they will not transmit the virus if they ever develop the disease, she added.
The 26 contacts were hospitalized in different hospitals in France. Eight of them flew, on April 25, from Sainte-Hélène to Johannesburg, on the same plane as a Dutch passenger from the ship Hondius, carrier of the virus.
Another 14 cases of contact boarded the plane connecting Johannesburg and Amsterdam, which the Dutch passenger had tried to take without success.
Five passengers from the Hondius ship are also admitted to the Bichat hospital in Paris. Four of them feel well and have been tested negative, but one woman has developed the virus and is in intensive care, in serious condition.
The five passengers were repatriated by a special medical plane from the Canary Islands, where the ship Hondius disembarked all the passengers.
While France called for “closer coordination” of health protocols in the countries of the European Union, the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council announced on Thursday the strengthening of its information exchange mechanism between the 27 member states.
According to the data available so far, the EU considers that the risk to the general population in Europe “is very low”, the Cypriot presidency added, in particular due to “adequate infection prevention and control measures”.
Six passengers of the ship arrive in Australia
On the other hand, six passengers of the MV Hondius, all tested negative, are being repatriated to Australia after spending a few days in the Netherlands.
They are four Australians, a Briton living in Australia and a New Zealander, all “in good health” and “asymptomatic”, who were originally supposed to head straight to Australia after disembarking from the cruise ship, but who had to be taken to the Netherlands due to a problem with their plane.
According to the images broadcast by AFP, the plane took off in the morning from Eindhoven airport. They were expected in Perth, where they will be quarantined for at least three weeks.
