A doctor on board the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius has revealed the primary concern regarding the emerging disease. American medic Dr Stephen Kornfeld boarded the vessel in Argentina expecting a relaxing holiday but instead found himself treating an outbreak of hantavirus.
Eight cases have been reported so far, including three deaths. Five of these have been confirmed as hantavirus, a group of viruses primarily carried by rodents and transmitted through exposure to their urine, faeces, and saliva. Human-to-human transmission is rare.
The MV Hondius set sail from Argentina a month ago, and Dr Kornfeld joined CNN to discuss the major fear surrounding the disease. He explained that he "sort of fell into the role of becoming the ship's doctor" after the vessel's medic was struck down by hantavirus.
Dr Kornfeld said: "There are three patients who seemed to be getting ill around the same time. One of them, very non-specific symptoms, a lot of confusion, and a lot of weakness. And she ultimately passed away relatively quickly."
"The two other gentlemen, quite a bit younger including the doc, just had a lot of viral symptoms, a lot of fever, fatigue, flushing, some GI issues, some shortness of breath. At the time neither one of them looked critically ill but the fear with hantavirus is you can go from seriously ill to critically ill very quickly."
"The ability to treat someone here on the ship in that critical state is non-existent. Now they've been evacuated they're getting magnificent care. What happens with hantavirus, ultimate survivability is really dependent on your ability to get critical care at the right time. On the boat, that would not be possible."
The luxury cruise, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 in Ushuaia, Argentina, and is expected to arrive in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday, May 10. Around 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries initially boarded, but dozens disembarked on April 24 on the island of St Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean.
All British passengers and crew are being asked to isolate for 45 days after returning to the UK, with close monitoring by health officials. Three Britons are confirmed or suspected to have contracted hantavirus: one is being treated in the Netherlands, another in South Africa, and a third on the Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. Governments in Singapore, Argentina, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the UK have been tracking people connected to the ship.
The outbreak has caused international alarm as health agencies rush to trace the potentially deadly human-to-human strain. World Health Organization Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the first two patients with confirmed cases had travelled through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip, visiting sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus inhabits.
The incubation period of the virus can be up to six weeks, so more cases may present in the coming weeks. Dr Kornfeld opened up about whether he is nervous about contracting hantavirus given his close contact with patients. He told CNN: "Early on, we didn't know it was hantavirus until maybe May 2, 3. We started treating people thinking, 'this could be infectious.' So in the beginning we were being careful with masks and gowns, and once we found out it was hantavirus and a second case happened, making it seem likely, I was able to find some aprons and some goggles. I did a lot of hand washing and clothes washing. I think hantavirus is hard to spread even though on this ship it seemed to spread."
"I may be in a different boat to the other passengers as I've had a lot of contact with the sufferers. We've been on this boat for five weeks and the original patient episode was many weeks ago."
