By Sebastián Betancourt
The case of the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship Hondius and, later, of norovirus inside the Ambition brought to light the possible vulnerability of the cruise industry to situations of this type, in which a bacterium can spread more easily given the confinement conditions that occur inside the vessels. Pablo González, researcher at the Millennium Institute in Immunology and Immunotherapy and academic at the Catholic University, outlined the challenges that the sector faces ahead to improve the way these situations can be addressed, where one of the key points is having an early diagnosis.
In that regard, the professor stated that “these ships, the larger they are, have better capabilities to treat sick people or to isolate them; many ships today have mechanical ventilators and fixed-point health personnel, that is very positive. What will have to be seen in the future is whether that preparation can be improved; having more space to eventually, if necessary, be able to quarantine more people if it is a virus or a bacterium of concern; also having diagnostic tools, which is not obvious with so many diseases, and it is not practical to have a laboratory on a ship due to cost and the specialty required for that.”
“What greatly helps to be able to take or define courses of action is diagnosis. The ideal is to have an early diagnosis of what is affecting, what is circulating, and to know what the problem is. That is something that science must support by providing better and easier solutions that can be miniaturized or created in a portable way so that vessels of different sizes can have that diagnostic capability and, thus, be able to take the corresponding measures. It always helps a lot to know what we are facing in order to take actions,” emphasized González.
Regarding the vulnerability of the cruise industry, according to the specialist, the variety of passenger origins and the territories visited is an element that favors the appearance and spread of outbreaks on ships. However, he stressed that these are not new situations and that it is necessary to improve preparation to handle events of greater magnitude.
According to the researcher, aboard the vessels “scenarios that can favor outbreaks occur. Precisely, they are people – the passengers – who come from different locations, different hemispheres with winter in some parts and summer in others, with different circulating bacteria in each place, different states of immunogenicity, different susceptibilities; many times, it is older adults who predominate on these trips, which could put that particular population at risk.”
“It is not unusual for outbreaks of pathogens to occur on cruises, this is because conditions arise that, in some situations, favor the spread of these microorganisms.”
Entonces, ha ocurrido en el pasado que han habido brotes de influenza, de Covid -en su momento, cuando se inició la pandemia-, de norovirus y, por tanto, de vez en cuando ocurren brotes”, señaló González.
“Creo que no es nuevo, es algo que ha sido así por mucho tiempo, entonces lo que hay que hacer es mejorar una preparación para que, en la eventualidad de que ocurran brotes de alta seriedad en términos de salud, se pueda responder rápidamente de la mejor manera, tener protocolos de aislamiento adecuados, contar con espacios suficientes para asilar a las personas que se encuentran enfermas o que sean potencialmente contagiosas, contar con material de protección personal para los equipos de salud a bordo de las embarcaciones e, incluso, para los mismos pasajeros ante un eventual brote de un virus respiratorio”, complementó.
En cuanto al caso particular del crucero Hondius, donde un brote de hantavirus provocó la muerte de tres viajeros, el docente explicó que “uno de los factores que complicó la situación, es que no había un diagnóstico inmediato y certero respecto al patógeno que estaba afectando a los pasajeros. Esto, porque también muchos virus y bacterias tienen síntomas muy comunes en los primeros días, entonces a veces es muy difícil determinar de qué se trata y eso puede conllevar a que la infección se amplifique”.
“En función de que el cuerpo médico de apoyo de salud esté bien informado sobre las enfermedades locales, va a ayudar a determinar mejor las probabilidades de que se estén enfrentando a un patógeno y tomar medidas preventivas o de mayor precaución para evitar potenciales propagaciones a bordo.Probablemente, este suceso que ocurrió recientemente ayudará a que equipos médicos que son parte de las tripulaciones en este tipo de barcos también se familiaricen más con algunas enfermedades que son raras y están presentes en los destinos”, planteó el investigador.
