Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship docks in the Netherlands for disinfection

Yesterday's ‘presumptive positive’ hantavirus case has now been confirmed. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has declared an emergency Ebola outbreak.

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert.

The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Rotterdam on Monday morning, after all the passengers disembarked elsewhere.

An Associated Press journalist saw people board the boat via pier wearing white hazardous materials suits. A short distance from where the ship docked, authorities had set up 25 white containers along the water in between a line of windmills.

The crew will enter immediate quarantine, with those who cannot be repatriated spending their time in quarantine in these containers with satellite internet and catering, said the port’s harbour master, René de Vries.

“The ship is in need, the ship is at sea, crew members are sick, probably affected. So in that case, I think it’s unacceptable to say no, you’re not welcome in the biggest port of Europe,” he said.

He said Rotterdam port frequently shelters ships struck by misfortune in the North Sea, but this is the first time they welcomed a vessel that sailed “halfway around the world” from Antarctica.

De Vries said the port’s health authorities would work with the Erasmus Medical Centre and the city of Rotterdam to safely disinfect the ship.

“She will be cleaned here at the jetty,” he said of the Hondius. “We can manage this.”

During the outbreak, three passengers who had been aboard the ship died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the vessel by personnel in full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.

The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Three passengers have died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship had tested positive Sunday and it would share information on the case with the World Health Organization.

The vessel made the journey from Tenerife up the coast of Africa and Europe with 25 crew members and two medical personnel. According to the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.

Crew members who are unable to return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week. Some two dozen passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on a series of flights over the previous two weeks.

Eighteen Americans are currently under observation at specialized health-care facilities in the United States designed to treat people with dangerous infectious diseases.

After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines. “Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the health ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.

The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it doesn’t foresee any changes to its operations. It has an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.

France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the MV Hondius and found that it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.

Molly Quell, The Associated Press