Two Irish people who had been on board a cruise ship hit by hantavirus were released from quarantine on Monday.
They served a quarantine period at the National Infectious Diseases Isolation Facility (NIDIF) at St Ita’s Campus in Portrane, north Co Dublin.
Both of the Irish people who had been on board the ship served a quarantine period of at least 42 days. One month was spent at the facility in Portrane, followed by a two-week period at their homes.
The pair had returned to Ireland from Tenerife in early May on an Air Corps plane that landed at Casement Aerodrome military airbase in Baldonnel.
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Ann Lane, a former personal assistant to former president Mary Robinson who lives in Dublin, and her friend were accompanied by Health Service Executive (HSE) medics on the flight from Tenerife.
The passengers and crew were required to isolate in accordance with national protocols to prevent further spread of the disease.
In a statement, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the State agency responsible for monitoring infectious diseases, confirmed the Irish passengers had safely left quarantine and are “well”.
“Most of the other international identified contacts associated with the outbreak have also completed their quarantine period, with others expected to do so in coming days.”
The centre said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said the “likelihood of additional cases associated with this outbreak is low”.
“The risk to Ireland remains very low,” the centre added.
Three passengers died following the outbreak, reported on the polar cruise ship MV Hondius, which was travelling between Argentina and Cape Verde, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The surveillance centre said 12 cases of hantavirus infection have been laboratory confirmed.
The Irish passengers were among 149 people on board.
“The real shock was when the first people died because we just didn’t know what this was,” Lane had previously told The Irish Times of the first fatality, which occurred before the ship reached St Helena, where it was scheduled to stop.
Passengers were initially told the man had died of “natural causes”. When they became aware of the hantavirus threat, Lane said the atmosphere on board was calm as the crew kept everyone informed of all developments.
The Dutch-flagged cruise ship has been disinfected.
Orthohantaviruses, more commonly known as hantaviruses, are a group of viruses primarily found in rodents but that can infect humans.
Hantaviruses are spread to humans via inhalation of or contact with infected rodent faeces, urine and saliva – or, more rarely, through bites and scratches from contaminated animals.
