A Chrono Aviation Boeing 737 takes off from the Bagotville airport in Saguenay, Que. on May 10.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
None of the Canadians who were evacuated from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship this weekend had known direct contact with sick people on board, according to British Columbia’s top doctor.
During a Monday news conference, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said the four individuals who were repatriated over the weekend have not shown symptoms of the deadly virus. While this is reassuring, she said, they are still in a “very critical phase of the incubation period.”
Explainer: What is hantavirus, how does it spread and what are the symptoms?
Dr. Henry said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assessed all passengers on board the MV Hondius. The four Canadians were considered in the “lower risk spectrum” for exposure based on the location of their cabins and their activities on the ship.
“That is, again, something that is reassuring but doesn’t rule out entirely that somebody may have been exposed and may be incubating,” she said. “This is exactly why we are taking the precautions and why plans are in place should the conditions change.”
The individuals were transferred from Victoria International Airport to secure, prearranged lodging on Sunday to begin a minimum 21 days of isolation. All four will be monitored daily by public health.
A person in their 70s who lives in the area is self-isolating at home. The other three – a couple in their 70s from the Yukon, and a B.C. resident in their 50s who was living abroad – have been put up separately in a facility procured by the local health authority.
The Yukon does not have the capacity to test or the facilities to care for someone should they develop severe symptoms, Dr. Henry noted, which is why the couple is in B.C.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provides the latest update about the hantavirus during a news conference in Victoria, B.C., on May 11.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
Six other Canadians who had potential exposures to hantavirus are isolating across the country: Three in Ontario, two in Alberta and one in Quebec. None have shown symptoms of the Andes strain detected in the cruise-ship outbreak.
Three passengers who were on the Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship, a Dutch couple and a German national, have died. Another six people with confirmed or suspected cases, none of whom are Canadian, are under quarantine, according to the World Health Organization.
Hantavirus is a rare but severe disease that is primarily acquired by humans through the inhalation of contaminated residue from rodent urine, feces or saliva. It’s suspected the initial infection was contracted by a passenger during a birdwatching trip in southern Argentina before boarding the cruise ship in April.
The Hondius left the Argentine port of Ushuaia on April 1. A Dutch passenger died on board 10 days later. But it was not until early in May that the WHO was made aware of a potential outbreak.
One of the American passengers repatriated from the cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus despite not showing any symptoms, which has caused widespread concern.
Captain of the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius Jan Dobrogowski thanks crew and guests of MV Hondius for their 'patience and discipline' following the outbreak of the virus in the Dutch vessel.
Reuters
Dr. Henry said testing can be made available if any of the four isolated individuals develop symptoms, even so much as a headache. But testing is not being done proactively.
In Ontario, Health Minister Sylvia Jones told media on Monday that testing on asymptomatic individuals “may not have the appropriate results, it may not be the best way to monitor.”
She said public health is continuing to observe the three individuals isolating in the province – a couple in the Grey Bruce region and one person in the Peel Region. All three remain asymptomatic.
Tom McMillan, a spokesperson for the Alberta Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services, in a statement on Monday said public-health officials are in daily contact with the two individuals isolating in the province. “They remain well, asymptomatic, and are self-isolating at home. They have shown no symptoms but will continue to be closely monitored,” he said.
Hantavirus has occasionally been reported in Canada and globally. The first recognized case in this country occurred in British Columbia in 1994, but retrospective studies have identified earlier Canadian cases dating as far back as 1989.
Dr. Henry said the hantavirus outbreak can be unsettling, but stressed that it is a very different disease and situation than COVID-19. She said hantavirus is not considered a disease of pandemic potential.
“When I look at it from my perspective, knowing how these outbreaks evolve over time, we don’t see the same pattern of spread that we would see if it was transmissible in the same way as coronavirus or measles or influenza,” she said.
With reports from Laura Stone in Toronto and the Associated Press