A small number of Welsh residents linked to a rare hantavirus outbreak are being supported by Public Health Wales after an illness spread on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius as it sailed from Argentina to Cape Verde. The residents are well and not showing symptoms, the agency said.
Public Health Wales said the group will receive regular precautionary testing and a daily assessment for the duration of their self-isolation. The agency said it is supporting a small number of Welsh residents linked with the outbreak, and there are currently no known cases of hantavirus in Wales.
The outbreak on the MV Hondius led to three deaths during the voyage, and six people were evacuated to the UK. On Wednesday, those six people were able to return home or move to suitable accommodation to complete a 45-day isolation period after already spending 72 hours in Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, where they tested negative for the virus.
Public Health Wales is working with the Welsh Government, the UK Health Security Agency, Welsh health boards and local authorities. Prof Isabel Oliver said the risk to the general public remains very low and said the response is being handled with robust measures.
That reassurance matters because hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents, found in some areas of Europe, Africa and Asia, and health officials want to avoid panic over a disease that is not spread through everyday social contact such as going to public spaces, shops, workplaces or schools. In the rare instances where it has spread from one person to another, it has involved close and prolonged contact with the infected individual.
The immediate question is whether any of the Welsh residents linked to the cruise ship outbreak will develop symptoms during isolation. For now, health officials say they are well, testing negative, and under close monitoring while Wales records no known cases of the virus.
