The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has indicated that the threat to Europe from the hantavirus outbreak detected on the cruise ship 'MV Hondius', currently anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, "is very low, given that adequate infection prevention and control measures are being implemented on board and that hantaviruses are not easily transmitted between people".
The European body urges port and health authorities to maintain and reinforce infection prevention and control protocols, and includes among its recommendations the use of personal protective equipment when attending to people with suspected infection.
The ECDC indicates that several questions remain about this episode, such as the identification of the specific viral species, the origin of the infection, the real extent of transmission between passengers and crew, and the possible existence of contagion between people.
For this reason, the ECDC continues to closely monitor the evolution of the outbreak and maintains permanent communication with national public health authorities and the World Health Organization, in order to assess the available epidemiological information and its possible repercussions for Europe.
Hantaviruses are pathogens that are transmitted from animals to humans, mainly when airborne particles from the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents are inhaled, especially in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces.
In the American continent, certain hantaviruses can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a serious pathology that begins with fever and general symptoms and can rapidly progress to acute respiratory distress and shock.
Most hantaviruses are not transmitted from person to person. The main exception is the Andes virus, described mainly in some regions of South America, where transmission between individuals has been proven, generally after close and prolonged contact. In the current outbreak, it has not yet been clarified whether the contagion occurred through environmental exposure or person-to-person transmission, nor has it been determined which specific hantavirus is involved.