A small number Scots have been linked to the hantavirus outbreak.
The national health body Public Health Scotland (PHS) has confirmed individuals had potential contact with confirmed cases and they are providing precautionary testing, as well as ongoing care and support.
The health bosses added that there are currently no known cases of hantavirus in Scotland and the risk to the general public is very low.
A rare strain of hantavirus broke out on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius last month as it sailed from Argentina to Cape Verde.
The outbreak has been linked to a birdwatcher Leo Schilperoord, 70, who visited a landfill site.
The late Dutch national boarded the MV Hondius with his wife after making a fateful visit to the rubbish tip in Argentina and was the first person to die on the vessel.
The Record has listed some of the ordeals Scottish people have suffered on cruise ships in recent years.
View 6 ImagesMarilyn and David Thomson from Saltcoats both caught Covid on board a cruise ship after MSC cruises failed to tell them there was a virus outbreak on board
Photograph © Jamie Williamson
jamiewilliamson.com
@jwilliamsonpix
Like me on Facebook @jwilliamsonpix
+44 (0) 7989 437787
williamsonphotos@mac.com
An elderly Scots couple were dumped into an isolation cabin and left without drinking water after catching Covid while on board a cruise ship.
Marilyn, 60, and David Thomson, 60, from Saltcoats, boarded the MSC Virtuosa on September, 2021, for a week-long break around the British Isles.
However the holiday turned into a nightmare when they tested positive on a lateral flow test the day before they were due to get off in Greenock.
The pair told how they were then ‘frogmarched’ by two security guards into the cabin and ignored for the next day.
It was only when Marilyn decided to hit a medical emegency button that their calls were answered.
Marilyn told the cruise ship bosses that unless they were allowed to get off at Greenock they would leave through the normal route and the couple were finally allowed to disembark.
View 6 ImagesFrank and Liz Aitken were stranded on the Oriana cruise liner.
A Scots couple were on a cruise ship when it lost power in the middle of the Atlantic.
Frank and Liz Aitken, from Ayrshire, were on board the 69,000-ton P&O Cruises vessel Oriana when the lights went out.
Frank explained how they were left floating for hours and the toilets were unusable as they are worked by electricity.
About 1800 passengers and 800 crew were also left without hot food in the restaurants.
The boat had left Tenerife and was set to travel to mainland Spain but once power was restored headed towards nearby Lisbon in Portugal for assistance.
A P&O Cruises spokesman confirmed the ship had a temporary loss of propulsion following a technical issue.
View 6 ImagesThe Island Escape cruise liner
A couple suffered severe diarrhoea and sickness on their honeymoon.
Colin and Lynsey Young, from Livingston, joined 100 passengers in taking legal action after suffering gastric issues during a Mediterranean cruise on Thomson’s Island Escape ship in 2013.
It was claimed cutlery and plates on the ship were dirty and food was sometimes served lukewarm and under-cooked.
Lynsey, 26, explained how the couple’s honeymoon was ruined.
She said the pair suffered from suffered severe vomiting and diarrhoea and complained about the time the on-board medical team took to offer assistance.
Law firm Irwin Mitchell took on the legal fight and said they had represented 300 passengers who had travelled on the ship in four years.
View 6 ImagesFred Olsen’s The Balmoral has been hit by an outbreak of a sickness bug (file)(Image: Anton Garin image/footage via Getty Images)
Around 200 passengers were hit by a stomach bug on a Scots cruise ship earlier this year.
Guests on Fred Olsen’s The Balmoral reported an outbreak of gastroenteritis, with some passengers forced into isolation as a result of the outbreak.
The ship was due to dock in Shetland on January 27 but was unable to due to bad weather.
Instead The Balmoral headed to Southampton for a deep clean.
View 6 ImagesLiz Webster back on deck after her isolation. (Image: Supplied)
A Scots woman was one of over 100 people struck down by a norovirus while on a cruise ship in June, 2023.
Liz Webster was on the the Fred Olsen ship, MV Balmoral, when she was confined to her cabin after falling ill.
Liz, from Falkirk, told the Record her luxury holiday “ended up being more QE-Poo than QE2”.
The 66-year-old and her pal Grace forked out £1,500 each for the cruise but after picking up the virus a few days into the cruise she was ordered into isolation.
Staff in protective clothing and masks took food into the infected people’s rooms to stop the bug spreading further.
Liz said the day she boarded the ship it was delayed from departing as staff undertook a deep clean.
On board the ship she said there were signs everywhere advising people to wash their hands with regular announcements over the tannoy.
The following day it was announced that there was an outbreak on the vessel.
Liz’s ordeal only ended when she was given the all clear after providing a stool sample.
View 6 ImagesFred Olsen cruise ship Black Watch berthed in Rostyh, Fife(Image: Callum Moffat Phototgraphy )
The Fred Olsen liner Black Watch returned to Rosyth from a 12 day cruise to Russia with 120 passengers suffering from a norovirus outbreak.
The shop docked in September of 2013 and an ambulance was waiting to take a stricken passenger to the Victoria Hospital in Dunfermline.
The luggage of those with the gastric illness was marked with chalk to protect baggage handlers.
The ship dubbed the Black Death was then struck with another outbreak just one week later on a trip to France.
A further 72 people suffered from the sickness and diarrhoea bug during a 12-night trip.
Following the second incident Fred Olsen insisted their cruise ships meet the highest hygiene standards.
Article continues below
Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.