(Canada, 17th) Canadian public health officials stated on the 16th that a “high-risk” passenger on the MS Hondius cruise ship has tested preliminarily positive for the hantavirus.
This cruise ship, which experienced a hantavirus outbreak, had a total of four Canadian citizens onboard, and the patient is one of them. The vessel was originally scheduled to depart from Argentina on April 1 towards the Atlantic, but the journey was abruptly halted due to the outbreak of this rare rodent-borne disease.
Currently, the only known hantavirus strain that can be transmitted between humans is the Andes virus strain. The global death toll remains at three for now.
British Columbia’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Henry, said the patient developed mild symptoms such as fever and headache, and was sent to the hospital, where the preliminary test for hantavirus returned positive on the 15th.
The patient’s test result still needs to be confirmed by a microbiology laboratory. He is currently undergoing isolation treatment. His partner’s test result is negative.