The British Columbia government announced Saturday that a Canadian man has tested positive for hantavirus after he left the luxury cruise ship on which an outbreak of the Andean strain of the virus was detected.
This man, who underwent tests at a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island after developing mild symptoms, is one of four Canadians in isolation on the island after leaving the cruise ship MV Hondius.
The group includes two couples — one from Yukon and another from British Columbia. The man who tested positive is from Yukon, officials said.
The Yukon couple is undergoing testing in British Columbia as there is no equivalent service in that northern territory, British Columbia provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said.
Henry said these four people did not come into contact with other people when they were transferred from their flight to Victoria. The man who tested positive is in stable condition, he said.
The strain of Andean hantavirus found on the cruise ship can cause severe lung disease that can be fatal in up to 50% of cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that are usually transmitted by rodents, but in rare cases can be transmitted from human to human. Health authorities have said the risk of spreading the virus is low.
