The Canadian patient is the 10th person from the ship to test positive.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canada’s national health agency confirmed Sunday that one of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus.
The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test a day after the public health officer for the province of British Columbia said the person had received a “presumptive positive” but further testing would be done at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
“An individual’s campfire was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the national agency said in a statement.
A second individual, who was a traveling partner of the confirmed case, was confirmed negative, the statement said. Both people, a couple in their 70s from Yukon, are in a hospital in Victoria.
The four Canadian cruise passengers returned to British Columbia last Sunday. In addition to the couple, there was a man in his 70s from Vancouver Island and a British Columbia man in his 50s who lives abroad.
Everyone is in isolation.
Three people have died since the start of the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius. The Canadian patient is the 10th person from the ship to test positive.
Among the three dead is a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first to be exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
Canada’s public health agency said it is taking a precautionary approach to ensure citizens are protected.
“The overall risk to the general population in Canada from the Andean hantavirus outbreak associated with the cruise ship MV Hondius remains low at this time,” the statement said. “All confirmed cases to date have been passengers or crew on the cruise ship MV Hondius.”
The agency said it provided information about the positive case to the World Health Organization and will share information to support the ongoing global investigation of the outbreak.
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