The US authorities have reported this Sunday that one of their nationals repatriated from the luxury cruise ship ‘MV Hondius’, affected by a , has tested “mild positive” in the PCR test for the Andes strain of this respiratory infection, as well as another presents “mild symptoms.”
These are two of those from the aforementioned cruise ship, who, as specified in a statement by the North American Department of Health and Human Services, “are currently en route to the United States on a State Department flight”, both traveling “on the aircraft” as a precaution.
Specifically, the plane will take passengers to the Regional Emerging Pathogens Treatment Center (RESPTC), located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in the center of the country, before taking those with “mild” symptoms to a second center of this type at their final destination. The health authority has also stressed that upon arrival at each center you will receive appropriate care and support, according to your condition.
The Ministry of Health qualifies the case: “Inconclusive”
The Ministry of Health explained this Monday that the passenger of the ‘MV Hondius’ confirmed as “mild positive” for hantavirus by the United States obtained an “inconclusive” and another “negative” result in the tests carried out on the cruise by the epidemiologist of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC, for its acronym in English).
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, detailed in an interview on TVE that the case was evaluated by the ECDC epidemiologist and those from the Health Emergency Alert Control Center, considering that it was a negative case because “in addition it had not manifested any symptoms.”
Regarding the positive in France, Health has pointed out that the patient began to feel unwell during the flight and not while she was on the ship. Although he stressed that all the measures adopted from the beginning have aimed to cut possible chains of transmission, he pointed out that “it would not be strange” if a new case could appear among close contacts.
