PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of infection were evacuated Wednesday from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly outbreak, the U.N. health agency said. The ship departed Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board and headed to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Associated Press footage showed health workers in protective gear evacuating three patients, including the ship’s British doctor, who Spain’s health ministry said had been in “serious condition” but has improved. Two of the patients arrived at Amsterdam’s airport Wednesday evening and were driven off in ambulances.
Three patients were evacuated from a cruise ship off Cape Verde on Wednesday amid a hantavirus outbreak, as a new case was confirmed in Switzerland.
Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organization said. Of the eight cases recorded, five were confirmed by laboratory testing.
Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though that is rare, according to the WHO, whose top epidemic expert said the risk to the public is low.
