Quarantined tourist speaks out from ‘rat virus’ ship – after becoming vessel’s de facto doctor when Brit medic fell ill

A QUARANTINED rat virus cruise passenger has spoken out about becoming the ship’s de facto doctor after the ship’s Dutch medic and a Brit crew member fell ill.

Dr Stephen Kornfeld was on holiday on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius when he “fell into the role of becoming the ship doctor”.

It comes as…

• A third British case is suspected on a remote island
• Rat virus cruise passenger visited a school on infected territory
• The hunt is on for Brit who disembarked with dead passenger
• Brit crew member speaks out from hospital isolation
• Two Brits passengers self-isolating at home in UK
• Investigators think the virus was caught on a bird-watching trip

The Oregon doctor told CNN he jumped into action when he heard one of the passengers had fallen ill.

The first passenger to get sick, a 70-year-old Dutchman, died on the MV Hondius on April 11.

Kornfeld said: “Over 12 to 24 hours, it became clear that there were a number of people sick and they were getting sicker.”

He revealed that the wife of the Dutchman, who left the ship in St Helena and flew to South Africa where she died in hospital had “non-specific symptoms”.

The American doctor said the woman had “a lot of confusion, a lot of weakness”.

Before the ship realised the deadly disease that was on board, the Dutch woman disembarked on the small island of St Helena with 28 others, including several Brits.

Kornfeld said: “Early on, we didn’t know it was hantavirus until May 2, May 3.”

The Dutch woman then flew to Johannesburg and tried to catch an onwards flight to Amsterdam, but was refused permission to fly.

Many others who disembarked at St Helena then travelled across the world to get home and are isolating in their home countries.

Kornfield said the unidentified ship’s doctor’s symptoms included “lot of fever, fatigue, and flushing”.

He revealed: “At the time, neither one of them looked critically ill.

“But the fear with hantavirus is you can go from seriously ill to critically ill very quickly.”

It comes as terrified locals said they had “no way to stop” hantavirus if it hit the Canary Islands as they fear a repeat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MV Hondius is steaming towards Tenerife, where it will not dock, but passengers will be evacuated in small boats.