THE Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said the 38 Filipinos aboard the cruise ship where there was a hantavirus outbreak are not sick.
In an interview on Tuesday, DOH spokesman Albert Domingo said there were Filipino crew members on board among more than 100 people on the vessel, which is currently docked in Cabo Verde off the coast of Africa.
“We have 38 fellow Filipinos, 38 crew members. The good news is, according to the WHO and the International Health Regulations, they are not sick,” Domingo said in Filipino. Reports said three people were confirmed dead onboard the ship.
Domingo said that DOH is closely coordinating with international governing bodies to monitor the situation.
According to the World Health Organization, hantavirus is a zoonotic disease that naturally infects rodents and is transmitted to humans.
Domingo said no cases of the virus have been detected in the country so far, stressing that other diseases — such as tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) — are more troublesome than the hantavirus.
Domingo also clarified that hantavirus is not a new disease, describing it as a rare viral infection typically transmitted through exposure to infected rodents or their droppings — not through casual human-to-human contact.
He noted that the Philippines has not recorded confirmed hantavirus cases in recent years, adding that some past reports even required further verification.
Symptoms of hantavirus infection may include fever, body aches, and, in severe cases, respiratory complications.
Despite the reported incident abroad, Domingo said there is no cause for alarm in the Philippines.
