12 Dutch medical staff urgently quarantined due to hantavirus blood sample error

Radboudumc hospital in Nijmegen quarantines 12 staff for six weeks following procedural error with hantavirus patient samples.

Radboudumc hospital announced on 12/5 that 12 medical staff were placed in preventive quarantine after blood and urine samples from a hantavirus-infected patient were not handled according to strict protocols, Reuters reported. This incident occurred as global health agencies work to prevent the spread of an outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship.

In a press statement, Radboudumc hospital confirmed the staff would be quarantined for six weeks. The facility emphasized that the risk of infection is low and patient care continues as normal. The patient was admitted on 7/5.

Passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship carry luggage after disembarking an aircraft at Eindhoven Air Base, Netherlands, on 12/5. Photo: Reuters

Speaking to parliament, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans stated that the hospital followed standard procedures but did not apply the highest level of control specifically for this Hantavirus strain. "The likelihood of medical staff being infected is very low, but knowing this is a dangerous virus, the hospital decided to choose the safest solution," she said, noting the current situation differs from the Covid-19 pandemic. "With the current understanding and measures being implemented, we are confident that this virus can be fully controlled."

To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a total of 9 infections in this outbreak, an increase of two cases from the previous day. Additionally, WHO recorded two suspected cases: one individual who died before being tested, and another case on Tristan da Cunha, a remote island in the South Atlantic without available testing equipment.

All confirmed cases are currently linked to the voyage on the Hondius ship. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the number of infections could continue to rise due to the prolonged incubation period of Hantavirus and close contact among passengers before the outbreak was detected. However, he affirmed this is not a pandemic. The virus carries a high mortality risk but is not easily transmitted from person to person.

Epidemiological studies indicate that Hantavirus is typically transmitted through wild rodents, with human-to-human transmission being rare and occurring only through close contact. Since the outbreak began, there have been three fatalities: a Dutch couple and a German citizen. The Hondius ship is currently en route back to the Netherlands with 25 crew members and a medical team, expected to dock on 17/5 after other passengers disembarked in the Canary Islands, Spain, on 10/5.

The incident has also put international coordination systems on alert. In Italy, experts are testing biological samples from a man who had contact with the deceased Dutch victim. In Spain, one positive case has been confirmed, while 13 other individuals in quarantine in Madrid have tested negative.

In the United States, 18 passengers returning from the Hondius ship have been quarantined, with one weakly positive case being monitored in a bio-containment unit in Nebraska. Epidemiologists from the Pasteur Institute, France, believe that while tracing could take months due to an incubation period of up to six weeks, the virus's low transmissibility means the number of cases is not expected to rise sharply.