Category: Health
Canadian public-health officials are working to contact 26 additional passengers considered “low risk” after they travelled on flights linked to a confirmed hantavirus case connected to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer said on Thursday.
Dr. Reimer said the individuals are not required to isolate, although provincial and territorial authorities may recommend additional precautions depending on local circumstances. The passengers did not sit near or have direct contact with the infected individual during the flights, and European health authorities had classified the group as posing no risk. Canada, however, opted for what Dr. Reimer described as a more precautionary approach as officials continue monitoring the evolving situation.
Authorities are currently monitoring 36 Canadians in relation to the outbreak, including nine individuals categorized as high risk who are isolating despite remaining asymptomatic. Those cases include four people in British Columbia, three in Ontario and two in Alberta. A previously high-risk individual in Quebec was downgraded to low risk and is no longer isolating. Dr. Reimer noted that some affected individuals were not immediately identified upon returning to Canada, resulting in delays in local public-health outreach efforts.
The outbreak has been tied to the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 carrying approximately 150 passengers and crew. The World Health Organization was alerted in early May after several passengers developed severe respiratory illness, later confirmed as Andes hantavirus. The outbreak resulted in the deaths of a Dutch couple and a German national. Investigators believe the virus was likely contracted by a passenger before boarding the vessel.
Health officials emphasized that the Andes strain is the only known hantavirus capable of person-to-person transmission, but stressed that it spreads far less easily than COVID-19 and shows no indication of pandemic potential. Hantaviruses are primarily transmitted from rodents to humans through exposure to infected urine, saliva or droppings. Dr. Reimer said there is currently no evidence that asymptomatic individuals can spread the virus, meaning broader contact tracing is not being conducted. Federal and provincial authorities are continuing discussions to coordinate public-health guidance and testing protocols as monitoring efforts continue.