AMSTERDAM, May 12 (Reuters) – Two planes carrying 28 passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, which experienced a hantavirus outbreak, landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday. A hospital in the Netherlands treating a h...
AMSTERDAM, May 12 (Reuters) – Two planes carrying 28 passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, which experienced a hantavirus outbreak, landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday. A hospital in the Netherlands treating a hantavirus patient has quarantined 12 staff members as a precaution.
The planes arrived at Eindhoven Airport just after midnight, bringing home eight Dutch nationals. Other passengers from different countries will continue their journey back home from the Netherlands, as authorities previously announced.
The staff members at the Dutch hospital were placed in preventive quarantine for six weeks because blood and urine were handled without updated safety protocols, according to Radboudumc hospital in Nijmegen. They emphasized that the risk of infection is very low and patient care remains unaffected.
A passenger from the Hondius who tested positive for hantavirus was admitted to Radboudumc on May 7.
“We will carefully review the events to learn from this and prevent it in the future,” said Bertine Lahuis, chair of the hospital's executive board.
Meanwhile, the Hondius departed for the Netherlands late Monday night with 25 crew members, as well as a doctor and a nurse on board. All passengers have left the ship, and it is expected to arrive in the Netherlands by May 17, according to the ship owner, Oceanwide Expeditions.
Since the outbreak began on the ship, three people have died, including a Dutch couple and a German national. Hantavirus is typically spread by wild rodents, but there are rare cases where it can be transmitted from person to person through close contact.