A Canadian isolating in B.C. has presumptively tested positive for hantavirus after leaving the cruise ship affected by an outbreak of the Andes strain in recent weeks, B.C.’s top doctor said Saturday.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said Saturday the patient started to develop mild symptoms, including fever and headache, two days ago. The individual was taken to hospital in Victoria for testing, which came back as a presumptive positive result on Friday.
The test will need to be confirmed by a microbiology lab in Winnipeg but officials said the person is being treated as a positive patient. The person is still in hospital in isolation and considered stable.
“Clearly, this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” Henry said.
“I know news like this can be very concerning and can cause us to think about what we went through together over the last number of years, but I want to emphasize that hantavirus is a very different virus than the other respiratory viruses that we’ve been dealing with — like COVID, like influenza, like measles — and it remains one that we do not consider to have pandemic potential.”
Four cruise ship passengers starting isolating in the Island Health region on Sunday: a Vancouver Island resident in their 70s, another person from B.C. in their 50s who currently lives abroad, and a couple from the Yukon in their 70s.
Henry said the person with the presumptive test result is part of the couple. The partner was evaluated but tested negative.
4 Canadians from hantavirus-hit cruise ship fly to B.C.
The provincial health officer emphasized that none of the travellers had come into contact with the public during their transfer from Victoria International Airport when they arrived on Sunday, and that all health-care workers involved wore personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times.
Henry also noted that all 11 people who’ve tested positive globally were people who were on the cruise ship for an extended period of time, meaning the virus has not affected anyone who wasn’t on the trip to date.
Three people have died since the hantavirus outbreak began on the MV Hondius.
Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually emerge between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Henry said the four Canadians isolating in the Island Health region had no known direct contact with the people who fell ill on the ship.
The four were among 10 Canadians who, as of May 8, were identified as potentially being exposed to the virus. The others include two from Alberta, three from Ontario and one from Quebec.
