Brit hantavirus cruise passengers face gruelling isolation period after returning home

Passengers who were on the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak have officially departed Tenerife, and are now spending time in a UK isolation facility.

A chartered Titan Airways flight transported the group from the Canary Islands, where their ship docked, to Manchester Airport on Sunday evening (10 May).

20 British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus before getting on the flight, were taken to isolate at the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside.

Alongside them are one German national, who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship, who is also being monitored at Arrowe Park at the request of the Tokyo government.

The Dutch-flagged ship, which is linked to the outbreak, set off from Argentina on 1 April on its way to Cape Verde.

However, three passengers died of the virus, while three others were removed from the ship to receive specialist medical care.

20 Brits who departed MV Hondius are isolating at a hospital in Merseyside (Anadolu/Getty Images)

Hantaviruses are a group of viruses carried by rodents that can cause severe disease in humans, as per the World Health Organization.

While most hantaviruses don't pass from person to person, there have been rare instances of human transmission with the Andes strain, which is the one identified on the ship.

The World Health Organisation confirmed on Saturday that there had been six confirmed hantavirus cases linked to the cruise, and four patients were in hospital.

It added that eight cases, including three deaths, had been reported, with one previous suspected case being reclassified after testing negative for hantavirus.

Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said three British nationals are included in the eight cases - two involve confirmed hantavirus, and another is suspected.

The two confirmed British cases are in hospital in South Africa and the Netherlands, while the third British national with a suspected case is being supported on the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha where they live.

The cruise ship docked in Tenerife around 5:30am local time on Sunday (Anadolu/Getty Images)

As for those who departed the ship on Sunday, strict infection control measures took place during the journey to Arrowe Park, with passengers, crew, drivers, and medical teams all wearing personal protective equipment such as face masks.

Within a 72-hour period, the group will all receive clinical assessments and testing at the isolation facility before their 42-day quarantine begins at home.

The Arrowe Park site has six storeys of self-contained flats with their own bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, kitchen, and lounge facilities.

Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “There’s nobody being transferred to us that has been symptomatic in any way.

“There’s no impact on the hospital. Services are running as normal; patients should still attend their appointments.”

The hospital leader added that if passengers develop symptoms, they will be taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which houses the regional Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit.

The group have been transported to Arrowe Park Hospital where they're isolating (Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)

The symptoms of the Andes strain of hantavirus and how it spreads

The Andes strain of hantavirus is very rare. Microbiologist Dr Gustavo Palacios told CNN there have only ever been 3,000 known cases.

It is the only documented form of hantavirus with human-to-human transmission. One study showed that window for patients to be infectious was about a day, when they develop a fever. But they also found it was transmissible through only brief proximity to an infected person.

Andes virus (ANDV) is primarily found in South America and has a high fatality rate, between 20 and 40 percent. It can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which attacks the lungs. Symptoms start one to eight weeks after infection and the first signs can include:

• Fatigue
• Fever
• Muscles aches
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Chills
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhoea

Later symptoms include:

• Coughing
• Shortness of breath