BC’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has confirmed one of the four individuals under quarantine after arriving in Canada from the MV Hondius has a confirmed case of hantavirus.
The update was provided on Saturday, May 16th during a press conference.
Dr. Henry confirmed that the individual who has contracted the ANDES strain of hantavirus is one of the two Yukon residents who have been quarantining together in Victoria. Both of them are over 70-years-old.
“One individual started to develop mild symptoms, including a fever and a headache two days ago,” said Dr. Henry.
“Protocols were followed to bring them and their person they were isolating with—this is the couple that were together—to a tertiary care hospital here in Victoria where they were both assessed and tested for hantavirus.”
She then explained that late on Friday evening, the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), declared the test on the individual showing symptoms was positive for the ANDES strain of hantavirus.
Dr. Henry also confirmed that the individual’s partner is also now isolated in hospital, and one other individual is also in hospital, though neither are showing symptoms of hantavirus at this time.
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“Clearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” added Dr. Henry.
The provincial health officer noted that the test conducted by the BCCDC is what is referred to as a ‘presumptive positive,’ and another test will be conducted on the gathered samples by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg for ‘confirmatory testing.’
Dr. Henry said that the confirmatory testing results would be back by Sunday, but the Province has made no further announcement on their results.
While speaking about quarantine, isolation and the medical protocol followed to test and treat the individual who has contracted hantavirus, Dr. Henry stated she has confidence in the processes in place.
“Infection control precautions were followed along the whole chain of that event,” she explained.
“People were called ahead, EMS were aware, the hospital were aware they were coming and I’m very confident in the team along that whole area that infection precautions were followed.”
She added that because none of the four people from the cruise were showing any symptoms upon arrival, they are not believed to have been contagious yet.
Click here for more background on the ANDES strain of hantavirus and the return of the four Canadians from the cruise ship where the outbreak occurred.
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