{"id":48423,"date":"2026-05-16T22:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:06:14","slug":"canadian-cruise-passenger-tests-positive-for-hantavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/48423\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian cruise passenger tests positive for hantavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) \u2014 One of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship where there was a hantavirus<\/a> outbreak received a \u201cpresumptive positive\u201d test result for the virus, Canadian officials said Saturday.<\/p>\n

Results from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to confirm the case are expected to come over the weekend, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, the public health officer for the province of British Columbia<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cClearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n

The person, one member of a couple in their 70s, began showing mild symptoms, including a fever and headache, two days ago. Both are in a hospital in Victoria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patient is stable, the symptoms remain mild at this point,\u201d said Henry. \u201cThey are still in hospital, in isolation, being monitored and receiving care as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second person showed \u201cvery minor symptoms\u201d and tests were negative, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is encouraging that symptoms were identified early, supportive care can be provided, and they will be monitored carefully over the next few days,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n

Three people have died since the hantavirus outbreak began on the MV Hondius. If confirmed, the Canadian patient would be the 10th person from the ship to test positive. The outbreak on the ship has reached<\/a> 12 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Among those who died are a Dutch couple<\/a> who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. <\/p>\n

The four Canadians returned to British Columbia on May 10. Besides a couple in their 70s from the Yukon, there was a person in their 70s from Vancouver Island and a B.C. person from British Columbia in their 50s who lives abroad.<\/p>\n

All were in isolation.<\/p>\n

Henry said the hantavirus is different from COVID-19 and is not considered to have \u201cpandemic potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reassure everybody in (British Columbia) that for most of us the situation has not changed,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had infection control precautions in place from the moment these people arrived in British Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident there\u2019s no additional risk. We are well prepared to respond carefully and appropriately to keep everyone safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) \u2014 One of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship where there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[21469,239,17,21485,21483,592,15798,2128,21484,14329,84,218],"class_list":["post-48423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-bonnie-henry","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-coronavirus","tag-disease-outbreaks","tag-general-news","tag-hantavirus","tag-health","tag-pandemics","tag-public-health","tag-winnipeg","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}