The World Health Organisation (WHO) has sought to calm global fears over the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, insisting the situation is not the beginning of another pandemic despite a growing number of confirmed infections.
Speaking on Thursday, WHO officials said the outbreak was expected to remain limited if countries continue implementing strict public health measures, although they cautioned that additional cases could still emerge.
“We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries,” WHO emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud told reporters, according to AFP.
WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove also dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” she said, adding, “This is not Covid.”
The health agency further disclosed that 2,500 hantavirus diagnostic kits had been dispatched to laboratories in five countries to aid testing and surveillance efforts.
The reassurance comes as authorities confirmed more infections connected to the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius expedition cruise ship.
A hospital in the Netherlands confirmed that a second patient linked to the cruise ship had tested positive for hantavirus. Leiden University Medical Centre said the diagnosis had been verified and disclosed with the patient’s consent.
Earlier, Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands had also confirmed another positive case involving a passenger from the vessel.
Health officials believe the outbreak began after a passenger contracted the rare Andes strain of hantavirus during travel in Ushuaia, Argentina, before boarding the ship. Investigators suspect the infection may have spread onboard during the vessel’s Atlantic voyage through close contact among passengers.
Authorities say three passengers have died while several others have tested positive or are being monitored across multiple countries after disembarking from the ship in Europe and elsewhere.
The Andes strain is considered unusual because, unlike most hantaviruses that are primarily transmitted through rodents, it can in rare instances spread between humans during prolonged close contact.
