90-Second Read: French Hantavirus Patient Is Critically Ill as Outbreak Reaches 11 Cases

The woman, who was a passenger on the MV Hondius, was breathing with the help of an artificial lung, officials in Paris said. A French woman with Hantavirus who had traveled on the MV Hondius cruise ship was critically ill on Wednesday, officials said, as the number of identified cases in the outbreak climbed to 11. The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it had identified eleven cases of Hantavirus, three in people who had died.

Health officials around the world are monitoring disembarked travelers from the ship and any of their close contacts for symptoms of the virus. Gianfranco Spiteri, an epidemic expert at the agency, said the woman did not have symptoms when she left the ship. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital in Paris, where the woman is being treated, had previously said that she had severe symptoms and was breathing with the help of an artificial lung.

Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the agency's director, noted that the virus had a long incubation period of six weeks. She recommended that the ship's passengers be held in quarantine for that length of time after disembarking.