An international health alert on a lethal hantavirus outbreak stemming from a Dutch-flagged cruise ship, which killed three people and mobilized health authorities around the world, has been officially ended by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Following the completion of quarantine of the last case contact, successful testing, and safely repatriation to their home country,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Tuesday that the outbreak had ceased.
He added that since May 25th no new infections had been detected and all conditions for declaring an end to the outbreak had been fulfilled.
The outbreak began on the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius which set sail from Ushuaia, the southern tip of Argentina, on a trip to the Antarctic aboard.
A total of 13 people-12 lab confirmed and one probable case of the hantavirus, the Andes strain, which can transmit limited human to human cases-were infected during the trip and three died of the infection. “As there have been no new infections since the beginning of June,” Dr. Tedros said. “I am pleased to declare that the WHO Hantavirus Outbreak investigation is now concluded.
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It demonstrated that through prompt action, such as contact tracing, isolation, quarantine measures and rigorous public health investigations, such an outbreak can be contained,” Dr.
Tedros said. In response to the outbreak that occurred in the April/May time period, hundreds of travelers and crew members from the MV Hondius-some 650 identified close contacts in 33 countries-have been monitored for signs of infection under the coordination of the WHO.
The ship ultimately disembarked passengers in Rotterdam after undergoing extensive disinfection and sanitisation procedures before being cleared for future voyages.
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WHO plans continue to work on this issue “with the aim of finding ways to avoid further outbreaks, strengthening rapid alert mechanisms and providing adequate tools for diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination” according to their press statement.
They also reiterated that the risk to the international community had been minimal and that this incident provided a valuable opportunity for lessons learned and for reinforcing collaborative mechanisms to tackle rare disease threats.
