An American oncologist who was a passenger aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius had to act quickly after the ship’s doctor contracted hantavirus.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld was just another passenger on the ship when the outbreak started, but after the official physician fell sick he had to step in and help manage the crisis.
In an interview with ABC News, Kornfeld said he quickly realized he was leading the response to the full-blown medical crisis on board the ship.
The ship’s unidentified doctor was among the six people who tested positive for the virus. One other patient with a probable case died on board.
"It just kind of escalated to within 24 hours after I stepped in," Kornfeld told ABC. "One of the patients died, and the other two, the physician and one of the other staff members, were getting progressively sicker, and then the first news of hantavirus came out."
Kornfeld explained that even though he was leading the response, he was not working alone, saying, “There were a lot of people kind of helping and working, and it really felt like a team. These people have started to become my family.”
The hantavirus outbreak
A total of three passengers from MV Hondius have died; two had confirmed cases of the virus.
The ship docked in Tenerife on May 10, and passengers are being evacuated back to their home countries.
One US citizen who has evacuated from the ship has tested mildly positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus.
While hantavirus is typically only spread by rodents, the Andes strain can be transmitted person-to-person. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
A French passenger who was repatriated after the ship docked has tested positive for the virus, and her condition is deteriorating, according to the French Health Minister, Stephanie Rist.
The passenger was among five French people aboard the ship. The four other passengers tested negative but will be retested, she told France Inter radio, adding that, so far, French authorities have traced 22 cases of contact.
"What is key is to act at the start and break the virus transmission chains. This is what we are doing with the Prime Minister, notably with a decree that came out today that will allow us to strengthen isolation measures for contact cases and to protect the population," she said.