Spain expects over 90 evacuees from Hantavirus-hit cruise ship on Sunday: Health official

Spain evacuated over 90 passengers and crew from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius near Tenerife. Authorities coordinated international repatriation flights as health officials warned the rodent-borne virus can cause severe lung, heart and kidney complications, with prevention focused on avoiding infected rodents

 Tenerife: Javier Padilla, Spain’s Secretary of State for health, said on social media that the evacuation of passengers and some crew members from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius has been underway as planned, with more than 90 people expected to be evacuated by the end of the day.

According to a video released by the official X account of the Spanish Interior Ministry’s General Secretariat for Civil Protection and Emergencies, 49 passengers and crew members from 14 different countries had been evacuated by Sunday afternoon since the operation began.

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Padilla said passengers and crew members from Britain, Turkey, France, Ireland and the United States would continue to be evacuated later on Sunday, with the total number of evacuees expected to exceed 90 by the end of the day, Xinhua news agency reported.

The final evacuation flight is expected to depart on Monday to transport Australian nationals. The Netherlands also plans to send a so-called “sweep flight” to collect individuals who have not yet been repatriated by their respective countries.

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.