Singapore Isolates Two Residents Who Disembarked Cruise Ship and Flew with Confirmed Hantavirus Patient
Singapore has isolated two residents who flew with a confirmed hantavirus patient from a cruise ship outbreak in the South Atlantic that has killed three people across multiple countries.
Singapore's Communicable Diseases Agency announced on May 8 that it has isolated and is testing two Singaporean men, aged 67 and 65, who were aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship operated by Oceanwide Expeditions in the Netherlands, which experienced a hantavirus outbreak.
Multiple countries worldwide are tracking passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius to prevent the spread of hantavirus. The ship's passengers who disembarked during a port call at Saint Helena, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, on April 24, came from 12 countries, including 7 British nationals, 6 Americans, and 2 Singaporeans.
The WHO confirmed three deaths from hantavirus: a Dutch couple and one German national. There are five confirmed hantavirus infections and three suspected cases.
The Communicable Diseases Agency stated that the two Singaporean men are isolated at the National Infectious Diseases Centre. "One has mild nasal discharge but is in good overall health. The other shows no symptoms, and the risk to the general public in Singapore at this time remains low."
If hantavirus tests come back negative, the men will be isolated for 30 days from their suspected last exposure. If tests are positive, they will receive hospital treatment for monitoring and further care.
Reports indicate the two men disembarked from the MV Hondius and were on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus patient, traveling from Saint Helena to Johannesburg, South Africa on April 25. The confirmed patient did not travel to Singapore but died in South Africa.
On the same day, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified the hantavirus outbreak at level 3 in emergency response—the lowest level of enforcement in the emergency system.
