A Canadian passenger who travelled aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has tested “presumptive positive” for the Andes strain of hantavirus, raising fresh concern as health authorities continue monitoring passengers linked to the outbreak that has already claimed three lives. Officials in Canada’s British Columbia province said the patient, one of four Canadians who returned from the vessel earlier this month, developed mild symptoms including fever and headache and is now being treated in isolation in hospital in Victoria.
Dr Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the positive result still requires confirmation from Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, with final test results expected over the weekend. “Clearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” she said. The patient, part of a couple in their 70s from Yukon, remains stable, while their spouse has shown only very minor symptoms and initially tested negative.
