France, Netherlands say all hantavirus contact cases negative

France’s health minister said Thursday that 26 people in France identified as close contacts of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship had tested negative for the illness.

Dutch authorities also confirmed that all people who arrived in the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship this week have tested negative.

Twenty-six people are in hospital isolation in France, including 22 identified as close contacts of a Dutch woman on the MV Hondius that was at the centre of an international alert for the rare disease typically transmitted by rodents.

French doctors are monitoring four others who were on the ship, while a fifth French passenger tested positive for hantavirus and is in serious condition in a French hospital.

“As of today, all close contacts of a person who tested positive for hantavirus, present in France, have tested negative, without exception,” said Health Minister Stephanie Rist on X.

Twenty-two of the individuals in France were on a flight from the Atlantic island of Saint Helena to Johannesburg, or on a Johannesburg-Amsterdam flight that a Dutch passenger was to have taken. The Dutch woman was taken off the flight and died in a South African hospital.

The 26 individuals will be tested three times a week as a precautionary measure, Rist said.

Globally, three people from the Hondius have died, six are confirmed to have hantavirus, there is one probable case and one US passenger had symptoms but recorded a negative test, according to a count from official figures.

Meanwhile, the European Union said it would step up the exchange of information between its 27 member states to better combat hantavirus. France on Tuesday called for “closer coordination” on EU health protocols.

Hantavirus risk to US public remains low: CDC

The risk from hantavirus to the general public remains very low, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has more than 100 staff members actively working on the outbreak, an official with the government health agency said.

“To the American public, please know we are here to protect your health. Based on current information, the risk to the general population remains low,” Dr David Fitter, the incident manager for the CDC’s hantavirus response, said during a media call.

The CDC is conducting public health assessments on site in Nebraska, where 16 of the 18 passengers from the Hondius were flown to and quarantined on Monday, said Dr Brendan Jackson, the CDC team lead in Nebraska.

One passenger, who officials on Monday said had tested positive for hantavirus and was placed in a Nebraska biocontainment unit, was later medically cleared to move to quarantine with the others.

The passengers are currently being monitored for hantavirus at US medical facilities, with 16 of them at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre and two in Atlanta, including one who is experiencing symptoms, the officials said at a briefing.