B.C. isolates four hantavirus-exposed cruise travellers

VANCOUVER — Four Canadians exposed to hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship have arrived in British Columbia and entered a monitored self-isolation period, the province’s chief health officer said Sunday..Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said the four individuals — all asymptomatic — arrived in the province on Sunday, aboard a Government of Canada-chartered aircraft accompanied by a Public Health Agency of Canada quarantine officer. They were screened by local public health officials and taken directly to pre-arranged lodgings for an initial 21-day self-isolation period under daily monitoring. The isolation could be extended to as long as 42 days, depending on the virus’s incubation period.Public health officials have established protocols to support the individuals, including access to medical care and the BC Biocontainment Treatment Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital should symptoms develop, Henry said. The Office of the Provincial Health Officer, BC Centre for Disease Control and federal partners have co-ordinated the response.Henry stressed that hantavirus is very different from respiratory viruses such as COVID-19.“It does not spread in the same way and is not considered a disease with pandemic potential,” she said. “Our priority is the health and well-being of these returning Canadians and the safety of British Columbians.British Columbia typically sees zero to two cases of its own locally acquired hantavirus — a different strain transmitted through contact with deer-mouse droppings, urine or saliva — each year. The last two cases were reported in 2023. Since the disease was first detected in Canada in the 1990s, there have been roughly 143 cases nationally, with 34 deaths..Henry said the four travellers remain in a “critical period,” noting the median incubation period for the strain is about 15 to 18 days, though it can be as long as six weeks.Henry drew international ridicule in 2020 for her government’s COVID-19 response after the BC Centre for Disease Control, under her oversight as provincial health officer, recommended the use of “glory holes” as a precaution against respiratory virus transmission.

B.C. isolates four hantavirus-exposed cruise travellers

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