Passenger from hantavirus cruise quarantines on remote Pitcairn Island

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A passenger from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship is in quarantine on tiny Pitcairn Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty.

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The woman, a US citizen, journeyed halfway across the globe to reach remote Pitcairn Island after disembarking the cruise ship in Saint Helena, authorities said.

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“We can confirm that someone who had contact with a hantavirus-exposed individual is currently isolating on Pitcairn Island, showing no signs of illness,” said a Pitcairn government spokesman.

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“We are working closely with the health authorities and the UK Government to manage the situation. The wellbeing of our community remains the top priority.”

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It was not clear how long the woman might be stuck on Pitcairn Island or how she will be isolated from the around 50 people who call the British territory home.

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Pitcairn Islanders contacted by AFP said they had been advised against speaking with journalists and should pass all questions on to government officials.

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It was no small effort for the jet-setting American to reach Pitcairn Island, which bills itself as a “must see for adventurous travellers seeking truly remote horizons”.

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She first flew from San Francisco to Tahiti and then onwards to the isle of Mangareva in outer French Polynesia.

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From Mangareva most tourists reach Pitcairn by hitching a 32-hour ride on one of the cargo ships that shuttle back and forth every few days.

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The government of French Polynesia said she had done all this without telling authorities of her possible exposure to hantavirus.

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She will not be allowed to leave the island as long as she “poses a risk to others”, the government said in a statement earlier this week.

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The UK government — which counts Pitcairn as an overseas territory — said the woman was not symptomatic, but it was still taking a “precautionary approach”.

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There is only one grocery store on Pitcairn Island, which typically opens three times a week.

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The nearest hospitals are in French Polynesia, some 1,350 miles (2,170 kilometres) to the northwest, or New Zealand, about 5,300 kilometres (3,300 miles) southwest.

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Three people died after the rare rat-borne hantavirus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare.

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Health authorities have repeatedly emphasised that the broader risk to public health from the outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus — the only one known to spread between people — is low.

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Globally, the death toll remains at three.

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No vaccines or specific treatments exist, but health officials have said the risk is low and have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The Pitcairn Islands were colonised in 1790 by the mutinous crew of the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty, led by the master’s mate Fletcher Christian.

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Their actions, casting adrift the ship’s captain William Bligh, have been immortalised in books and film.

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Pitcairn’s people are descended from the mutineers and their Tahitian companions.

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AFP

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