It reads like the script of some disaster movie. A luxury cruise ship, full of 91 posh people (and 61 crew) from 23 countries, taking in some of the most amazing sights (and sites) of the Southern Hemisphere.
And then a deadly viral outbreak onboard. “Ebola-lite”, as one news outlet inaccurately described it.
One guy dies, his wife tries to escape through the biggest airport in Africa, but collapses as she tries to fly home. She dies.
There’s then a third death on board.
And a British man is in ICU in Johannesburg (quite a long way from where the ship actually docked, which wasn’t actually in SA at all).
On board, stuck just off the coast of Cape Verde, the rest of the passengers and crew are forced to isolate as they wait out the incubation time of the virus, which has a mortality rate of 30-60%. More people are ill, but the local hospitals don’t have the facilities to treat them, and the local Health Minister isn’t allowing anyone from the ship near the islands.
Understandable.
There’s a travel blogger on board, and it’s said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, perhaps being part of an as yet uncontrolled outbreak of severe, often fatal respiratory disease on a small, densely-packed ship might reasonably be seen as an exception to that rule.
So… anything to worry about in SA?
Nah. Surely not for us. The boat is in Cape Verde: way, way up the West Coast from here.
In a statement on Monday, the Health Department of South Africa said:
In our view, there is no need for the public to panic because only two patients from the cruise ship have been within our borders.
And of course the guy in the ICU in Joburg was brought there under very controlled conditions.
It’s just the woman that collapsed at the airport, then. The woman whose husband probably died of Hantavirus: the woman who collapsed at OR Tambo and who then died (probably of Hantavirus) in hospital soon afterwards.
Thankfully, no issues here, because it’s just a bit of contact tracing, which will obviously have been done quickly and efficiently and… I’m sorry? What?
The only challenge is that we need anyone who came in contact with the two patients to come forward for screening and testing to check if they are not infected yet.
Right.
It’s been a week, guys. This really isn’t great news at a major international airport and with a virus with an incubation period of 2-3 (but sometimes up to 8) weeks.
Mind you. When it comes to burying one’s head in the sand…
Three deaths from severe respiratory illness, one patient in ICU with severe respiratory symptoms – and who has tested positive from Hantavirus – and two crew members exhibiting severe respiratory symptoms, and the cruise company is still saying that the cases might not be linked:
Hantavirus has not currently been confirmed in the two persons still on board who require medical care. Nor has it been established that the virus is connected to the three deaths associated with this voyage. The exact cause and any possible connection are being investigated.
I’ve seen this approach before somewhere…
Ah yes:
Obviously, there’s not a microbiologist or an epidemiologist anywhere in the world that thinks that these cases might – just possibly – be connected. Obviously.
All perfectly normal. Obviously.
I mean, you hope that this is all done now. But there’s no reason why it should be. We’re still within one month of the ship’s departure from Argentina – a country which…
…reports approximately 100 cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome annually, with notable risks of rare human-to-human transmission, distinct from other global hantaviruses.
It’s going to be interesting couple of weeks ahead.