© picture alliance / Anadolu | Andres Gutierrez
The French cruise ship Hondius passenger who tested positive for hantavirus is in critical condition at a Paris clinic. On board, ship doctors attributed her flu-like symptoms to stress or anxiety because she had no fever and her condition seemed to be improving.
"According to the doctors, the symptoms did not correspond to those of the hantavirus," Spanish Health Minister Javier Padilla Bernáldez told The Guardian. "According to her, what she felt was more like stress or nervousness. Doctors therefore suspected it was not the hantavirus." After her evacuation in Tenerife, however, her condition quickly deteriorated.
All those on board were taken off the ship and flown back to their home countries. There, a mandatory 45-day quarantine was imposed on them. The ship is en route to Rotterdam where it will be fully decontaminated.
Meanwhile, the number of infections is rising: in addition to the French woman, a Spaniard tested positive and an American tested slightly positive. So far there have been three deaths. The two Belgian passengers are staying at the UZA in Antwerp. They show no symptoms, but their blood tests were inconclusive.
Picture: © picture alliance / Anadolu | Andres Gutierrez