Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Passengers Land in Netherlands for Screening

According to the Dutch Foreign Ministry, the first flight, operated by Australian authorities, carried six passengers. The second, a Dutch-organized flight, transported 22 crew members from the luxury cruise vessel, including one Dutch national and 21 individuals of other nationalities.

The first aircraft landed at about 12:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT on Monday). The six passengers from this plane are expected to continue onward to Australia. The second Dutch flight landed about 15 minutes later.

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said on Sunday that all repatriated passengers will undergo thorough medical screening. A sample will be taken from everyone at the airport for laboratory testing.

The agency said that a quarantine hotel has been arranged for crew members and foreign passengers who cannot immediately return home, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch operator of MV Hondius, said in a statement on Monday that the vessel has departed the Spanish island of Tenerife and is en route to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The vessel is expected to take about six days to complete the journey, with a provisional arrival scheduled for this Sunday.

According to the World Health Organization, Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses that naturally infect rodents and are occasionally transmitted to humans. Infection in people can result in severe illness and often death, although the diseases vary by type of virus and geographical location. In the Americas, infection has been known to lead to hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a rapidly progressive condition affecting the lungs and heart, while in Europe and Asia Hantaviruses have been known to cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which primarily affects the kidneys and blood vessels.

While there is no specific treatment that cures hantavirus diseases, early supportive medical care is key to improve survival and focuses on close clinical monitoring and management of respiratory, cardiac and kidney complications. Prevention depends largely on reducing contacts between people and infected rodents.

Transmission of Hantaviruses to humans occurs from contact with contaminated urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents. Infection may also occur, although less commonly, through rodent bites. Activities that involve contact with rodents such as cleaning enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces, farming, forestry work and sleeping in rodent-infested dwellings increase exposure risk.

- IANS