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Hantavirus-Stricken Cruise Ship Reaches Rotterdam for Quarantine and Disinfection

WHO says the global risk stays low despite the virus’s long incubation.

Overview

  • The Hondius, which docked Monday in Rotterdam, will be disinfected by EWS Group as the last 25 crew and two medics disembark into Dutch-run quarantine.
  • Health agencies have logged at least seven confirmed infections linked to the voyage and three deaths, with one additional case listed as probable by AFP.
  • France’s Institut Pasteur sequenced a passenger’s sample and found the Andes hantavirus, a match to known South American strains with no signs of added risk.
  • More than 120 people were evacuated and repatriated to multiple countries, and Canada reported a presumptive positive in one passenger as others remain under observation, including 18 in U.S. specialty units.
  • The Andes strain is endemic in Argentina and Chile and can, in rare cases, spread person to person, and its weeks-long incubation drives 42-day quarantines for exposed travelers.