Hantavirus not like Covid, transmission difficult: Dutch doctor treating patient

The doctor said that patients are kept in an isolation room, cared for by well-trained staff and under strict disease control protocols. When they are feeling better, they are tested and if the test is negative, isolation can be lifted.

In Short

• Hentavirus's person-to-person transmission possible but difficult
• Patients are isolated until they're symptom-free and test negative
• Not certain exactly how long someone can carry Hantavirus: Doctor

The hantavirus that has broken out on the cruise ship MV Hondius is much less transmissible than Covid, the head of the Dutch unit treating one of the patients told AFP Thursday. In an exclusive interview with AFPTV, Karin Ellen Veldkamp, head of infectious diseases at Leiden University Medical Centre, said her unit was ready to receive more patients if required.

Asked about fears that hantavirus could be the new Covid, Veldkamp said: "No, it is not like that. It is not easily transmissible from person to person."

"We know (person-to-person transmission) is possible and we suspect that has happened on the boat... but it is not like Covid, (transmission) is much more difficult," she added.

Veldkamp declined to give precise details about the patient that arrived at the hospital on Wednesday night, but said the hospital was well-equipped for such cases. Patients are kept in an isolation room, cared for by well-trained staff and under strict disease control protocols, she explained.

"Our principle is that we simply care good care of the patient. We don't refuse to go in (to the isolation room). We are just well-trained to do that in a safe way," said Veldkamp.

In general, patients are kept in isolation as long as they show symptoms, she said. When they are feeling better, they are tested and if the test is negative, isolation can be lifted.

"We do not know exactly how long someone can carry the virus. But we assume that once someone is feeling better, they are no longer contagious," she said.

The unit in Leiden is used to treating patients with similar communicable diseases, said the doctor, adding that more places were available in the event of an outbreak. "And there are several hospitals in the Netherlands that can do this, so we can share out the burden a bit," she said.

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