Health officials in Paris say French woman who contracted disease on MV Hondius is on ventilator in intensive care

The head of the World Health Organization has warned countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases after the outbreak onboard the MV Hondius, and thanked Spain for the “compassion and solidarity” it had shown by taking in the stricken cruise ship and evacuating its passengers and crew.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to follow the WHO’s advice and recommendations, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.

“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak, but of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” he told a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday.

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    8 hours ago

    France’s health minister, Stéphanie Rist, said on Tuesday that while it wasn’t currently clear whether the hantavirus strain involved in the outbreak may have mutated, officials were “rather reassured”.

    Rist told the National Assembly: “There are things … we do not know about this virus. We do not yet have the complete sequencing of the virus, which allows us to say with certainty today, even if we are rather reassured to date … that this virus has not yet mutated.”

      • Mothra@mander.xyzEnglish
        3·
        4 hours ago

        Viruses mutate constantly, this is how you get new strains of everything so frequently. I’m not sure if you were being sarcastic or not, apologies, if it was a joke question it whooshed me