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A Spanish national in quarantine โin a Madrid military hospital, who was among those evacuated from a cruise โship earlier this month, has โtested positive of hantavirus, Spain’s Health Ministry said Monday.
It โis the second positive case โ among โ the 14 โSpanish nationals who were evacuated to the Spanish island of Tenerife from the luxury liner MV Hondius. The ship had been carrying about 150 passengers โ including four Canadians โ and crew from 23 countries โwhen a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses was first reported to the World Health Organization on May 2.
After โconfirming the infection, the Spanish national โ was taken to an isolation โ unit at Gรณmez Ulla Hospital, โ the Health โ Ministry โsaid on X. It added that the โfact that โ the case was detected among those already in quarantine “does not modify the risk situation” for the overall population.
Theย symptomsย of a hantavirus infection can appear anywhere from one to eight weeks after exposure, but on average they appear after two weeks.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed a positive case of hantavirus in one of the Canadians who was isolating in B.C. after leaving the ship. PHAC said a second person who travelled with the confirmed case tested negative the virus.
Now that a Canadian cruise passenger has tested positive for hantavirus, The Nationalโs Ian Hanomansing has infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch break down the risk of the disease spreading further.
Another 26 Canadians who were on the same planes as a confirmed hantavirus case, and who are considered low risk, were also being monitored. None has exhibited any symptoms.
Those low-risk contacts were connected to flights taken from St. Helena to Johannesburg and a second flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, according to a PHAC spokesperson.
The Andes hantavirus outbreak, which โ is primarily spread by rodents but can be transmitted between people in โ rare cases, โ was reported in early May โaboard the cruise ship.
It has since infected 12 people, including the Spanish national identified Monday. Three people have died: โa Dutch couple and โ a German national.
