An Oregon doctor who was on the Hantavirus-struck cruise ship MV Hondius has spoken out after testing positive for the disease himself.
Dr Stephen Kornfeld, a retired oncologist, was onboard as a civilian but offered his help to the ship’s doctor when passengers became sick.
At least three people have died aboard the Oceanwide Expeditions vessel, which began a remote voyage from Argentina to Cape Verde on 1 April, carrying 147 passengers including a number of Americans.
Kornfeld, currently at a biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, opened up about how he was feeling after his “faint” positive result.
“It’s a little weird being in here by myself, but the nurses come in, the doctors come in,” he told CNN. “I’m on WhatsApp all the time. It’s really amazing how quickly time flies.”
Explaining how he first became ill, the doctor said: “Early in April, maybe the 10th or so, a number of us onboard came down with what felt like a flu-like illness or the ship’s flu.
“I had three days of night sweats, a lot of chills, some mild respiratory and a lot of fatigue.”
Kornfeld explained that the night sweats and respiratory symptoms quickly passed, but that the fatigue lingered for two and a half weeks.
“At the time, it was felt like this was just some virus,” he said. “And now, in retrospect, there is a question: could it have been hantavirus?
Kornfeld told the network that he and a number of staff members were administered nasal swabs earlier this month.
The samples were frozen, flown to the Netherlands and tested for hantavirus. Two labs conducted tests, with one result being negative and the other being “faintly positive.”
He is awaiting the results of further tests but told the network he feels “great” currently.
In a separate development, Illinois Department of Public Health confirmed on Tuesday it was investigating a hantavirus case, but not one linked to the cruise ship outbreak.
“The resident lives in Winnebago County, has not travelled internationally, and has not come in contact with individuals associated with the MV Hondius outbreak,” an IDPH spokesperson said in a statement.
“They are suspected to have acquired a North American strain of the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present.”
The spokesperson added that the resident is “not seriously ill” and is recovering after experiencing mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
The risk of contracting hantavirus remains very low for Illinois residents, since North American strains are not known to spread from person-to-person, the IDPH said.
The Andes strain, which is responsible for the cruise outbreak, can spread from person to person in rare cases.
