Health
French Woman is on an Artificial Lung After Contracting Hantavirus Aboard Cruise Ship
A French woman is on life support in critical condition after contracting hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The woman, whose identity has not been shared, was one of the passengers aboard the ship that left Argentina on April 1 for the Canary Islands before a hantavirus outbreak resulted in three deaths of passengers and roughly 11 total cases of infection, according to The Associated Press.
The French passenger is currently hospitalized in Paris with a severe form of the disease, suffering from life-threatening lung and heart problems.
Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital, told the AP on Tuesday, May 12 that she was in “the final stage of supportive care,” and is using a life support device that pumps blood through an artificial lung and then back into her body.
The hope in severe cases like this is that the artificial lung will provide enough relief to the lungs and heart to allow the patient to recover, he explained, per the outlet.
There is no cure for the hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While new cases continue to emerge from the MV Hondius, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave an update on the situation to the outlet, noting that so far only confirmed and suspected cases have been linked to passengers or crew.
“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said in a statement to the AP.
He added, “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.”
