26 ‘Low-Risk’ Air Passengers Contacted as Canada Takes ‘Precautionary Approach’ to Hantavirus Outbreak

Canada’s chief public health officer says 26 people across the country are being contacted after sharing flights with passengers linked to the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship, though officials consider their risk low.

The 26 individuals were being asked to self-monitor for symptoms of hantavirus as part of a “precautionary approach” to the outbreak, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer said during a press conference on May 14.

Reimer said that the individuals did not have any interactions with an infected person on their flights and were “reported to us by European authorities as being no risk,” but Canada has “decided to take a precautionary approach and consider them to be low or minimal risk.”

The 26 are located in various places across the country, and local authorities are working to get in contact with them to give them information about what symptoms to look out for, she said, adding that they would be monitored “throughout the at-risk period.”

The latest update brings the total number of Canadians connected to the outbreak to 36, which includes nine high-risk individuals.

Those nine include four passengers of the cruise ship MV Hondius who returned to Canada on May 10, as well as five other high-risk contacts who were considered to have been potentially exposed to confirmed cases of Andes hantavirus. Those include two people who had been aboard the MV Hondius but disembarked before the outbreak was identified and later traveled on a flight where exposure may have occurred, as well as three individuals who were potentially exposed to a confirmed case during a flight.

The high-risk individuals are in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, Reimer said.

She also reiterated a statement made during earlier updates on the outbreak that the risk to the general population remains low, and that there was still no evidence that the virus can spread from asymptomatic people.

Canada is not testing any contact, regardless of risk level, who is asymptomatic. Reimer said that anyone who does display symptoms will be tested, and that Public Health Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory stands ready to provide testing. The agency has been collaborating with provinces, through the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, to provide testing capacity and support, she said.

The World Health Organization says Andes hantavirus is the only hantavirus known to spread between people, though transmission appears to require close contact and remains uncommon. The agency advises people who develop symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, headache, nausea, or shortness of breath after a potential exposure to seek medical attention promptly and inform health care providers about any travel or contact history.