A Frenchman who was on board the MV "Hondius" cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus.
This was reported by France's Health Minister, Stéphanie Rist, to France Inter radio station on Monday morning, according to Reuters news agency.
The infected person is a woman and her condition is worsening, it is said.
- What is crucial is to act immediately and break the chains of transmission, says Stéphanie Rist.
- This is what we are doing together with the Prime Minister, in particular with the help of a decree issued today, which allows us to strengthen our isolation measures for contact cases and to protect the population.
Five French people evacuated
A total of five French people were evacuated from the cruise ship when it was anchored off Tenerife on Sunday and flown to France.
The ship stopped in Tenerife after sailing across the Atlantic from Argentina via Saint Helena to Cape Verde.
Later on Sunday, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that one of the evacuated French people had started showing symptoms of hantavirus on board the plane that flew the passengers to France.
The four other evacuated French people have all tested negative for hantavirus, but will be tested again as a precaution, Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said on Monday morning.
- France is ready
When asked if France has enough masks and tests to handle a major outbreak of hantavirus, Stéphanie Rist replied:
- Yes, France is ready.
Hantavirus originates from rodents such as rats and mice. Transmission typically occurs through inhalation of aerosolized saliva, urine or feces from the animals.
Hantavirus transmission between humans is generally rare, but can occur through infection with the Andes virus, which is the variant found among passengers on the cruise ship MV "Hondius".
Symptoms appear between one week and six weeks after infection with the virus. Typical symptoms are fever, headache, lower back and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Some infected people do not have any symptoms at all.
Different variants of hantavirus can cause different serious illnesses. The Andes virus can cause serious lung and heart problems.
/ritzau/
