Dutch Hospital Enforces Quarantine After Hantavirus Protocol Breach
A Dutch medical center has placed 12 staff members in six-week quarantine following a failure to adhere to strict PPE protocols while treating a hantavirus patient from the MV Hondius.
The Dutch hospital has been attending to a MV Hondius passenger since they were medically evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship last week.. The hospital has since confirmed a dozen of its staff members will now be forced into quarantine amid fears they failed to follow PPE rules.. On Monday, the Netherlands ‘ Radboud University Medical Centre (Radboudumc) said in a statement that the 12 employees will be placed into “preventative quarantine for six weeks
as a precaution” over a possible risk of contamination with the patient, although it says there is a low risk of infection.. The staff members were found to have failed to follow strict PPE protocols when handling the blood and urine of the patient who had been travelling on the virus-plagued vessel, reports The Mirror.. The patient infected with the rat-borne was medically evacuated from the ill-fated Dutch vessel last week that has been at
the centre of an international health emergency.. Blood was drawn from the patient and processed using standard safety precautions.. “Due to the nature of the virus, this blood should have been processed according to a stricter procedure,” a hospital spokesperson confirmed on Monday.. “In addition, it became clear on Saturday, May 9, that the most up-to-date international regulations had not been followed during the disposal of the patient’s urine.” Staff members will receive any support
needed while in isolation, the university medical centre added, with board chair of Radboudumc Dr Bertine Lahuis attempting to reassure the public the risk to the broader population remains low.. “Despite the fact that the chance of actual infection is very small, these measures have a significant impact on all those involved.. We regret that this has happened at our university medical centre,” she said, adding a careful investigation is coming to “learn from this
and to prevent it from happening in the future” once again.. Her comments to the public comes days after the infected patient was initially triaged at the hospital, with the Dutch medical centre assuring the public at the time that its staff had containment measures of the hantavirus under control.. A spokesperson said at the time: “On the ward where the patient is admitted, appropriate isolation measures have been taken to prevent spread, in accordance
with internationally agreed protocols.. The team is specialised and trained in the care of patients with severe infectious diseases.” The patient at Radboudumc was one of three taken medically evacuated from the MV Hondius when it was docked off the coast of Cape Verde last week.. They were transported home to the Netherlands, alongside another patient who has been admitted to Leiden University Medical Centre.. A third person who was evacuated from the ship was
taken to a hospital in German.. That person has tested negative for the hantavirus.. Three people died from hantavirus after a recent outbreak involving the 147 passengers and crew members on the Dutch-flagged vessel.. Two of the fatal victims were identified as a man and woman from Friesland in the Netherlands, while the third was reported to be a German woman.. The last of the passengers remaining on the Dutch-flagged ship were able to exit
the vessel on Monday after weeks of uncertainty.
hantavirus, Dutch hospital, quarantine, Radboudumc, MV Hondius, PPE protocols, medical safety