Kathmandu. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday that a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship that had reached Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands had ended. The announcement came after the last person infected with the virus recovered and came out of quarantine.
After rumors of infection on the MV ship that left Argentina for Spain, those suspected of being infected and other passengers were quarantined and tested. Testing resulted in 12 confirmed and one probable infection, of which three died.
Although the disaster is over, the work for scientists and experts has only just begun. They are trying to learn from the incident, which has led to a global health alert.
“Today, the last person infected with hantavirus on board the MV Hondius was sent home after completing the quarantine period after testing negative for the virus,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. “Since May 25, there has been no more case report,” he said.
The Dutch-flagged ship departed from Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 and traveled through remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, including Tristan da Cunha, to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain, where the remaining passengers were safely evacuated.
टेड्रोसका अनुसार ३३ देश तथा क्षेत्रका स्वास्थ्य अधिकारीहरूले ६५० भन्दा बढी सम्पर्क व्यक्तिहरूको पहिचान गरी अनुसरण गरेका थिए। Hantavirus is a rare virus that is spread by rodents. There is no vaccine or specific treatment available yet.
The Andes species behind the Hondius outbreak is the only strain of hantavirus that can transmit the virus from person to person. The ship reached Rotterdam port in the Netherlands on May 18.