A French woman infected during the fatal hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is in critical condition and is receiving treatment with an artificial lung, according to a doctor at the Paris hospital where she is being cared for. The outbreak has now affected a total of 11 reported cases, with nine confirmed cases.
Among the casualties were three individuals on the cruise, including a Dutch couple suspected to be the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
The French patient in Paris is suffering from a severe form of the disease, leading to life-threatening lung and heart complications, as stated by Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease expert at Bichat Hospital.
The woman is currently on life support with a device that circulates blood through an artificial lung, oxygenating it before returning it to the body. This method aims to alleviate pressure on the lungs and heart to allow them time to recover, described by Lescure as the “final stage of supportive care.”
The MV Hondius is now heading back to the Netherlands after evacuating all passengers and a significant number of crew members for cleaning and disinfection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director confirmed that reported cases, both confirmed and suspected, have been limited to passengers and crew members of the cruise ship.
The latest confirmed case is a Spanish passenger who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship, currently under quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid.
This hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship represents the first of its kind, with no known cure or vaccine. The WHO emphasizes the importance of early detection and treatment in improving survival rates.
An investigative team from Argentina’s Health Ministry will be dispatched to determine the outbreak’s origin in the upcoming days.
The initial infected cruise passengers were a Dutch couple who spent time in South America before boarding the ship. The couple tragically succumbed to the virus.
The Argentine officials suggested that the couple may have been exposed to rodents carrying the virus during a bird-watching tour at a garbage dump. The investigation will focus on the landfill and other sites visited by the couple where the virus-carrying rats are present.
Passengers and crew from the ship were safely evacuated to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands for quarantine and medical assessment.
Hantavirus typically spreads through rodent droppings and has a low transmission rate among humans. However, the Andes virus identified in this outbreak may have rare person-to-person transmission capabilities.
WHO advises returning passengers to undergo a 42-day quarantine period, although the enforcement of this guideline may vary among countries.
A Dutch hospital staff is in preventive quarantine after potential exposure to bodily fluids from a Hondius passenger. The employees are required to undergo a six-week quarantine period as a precautionary measure.
The Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen received a patient who tested positive for hantavirus after arriving on one of the evacuation flights to the Netherlands. The hospital stated that the risk of infection is minimal but is enforcing strict precautions due to the handling of bodily fluids.
[Source](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hantavirus-france-patient-critically-ill-9.7196985)