Crewmember Positive for Chickenpox After Mpox Scare Causes Quarantine

Argentine health officials sought to reassure the public after a possible mpox case on a bulker inbound to the country’s Rosario port caused a scare and promoted a quarantine of the crew and pilots aboard the ship. Tests performed on the crewmember show he has the equally contagious but less dangerous chickenpox virus.

The Liberian-flagged bulker Ina-Lotte (38,200 dwt) arriving yesterday, August 20, in Argentina bound for Puerto San Lorenzo reported that an Indian crewmember was ill. The report said the person had legions which were said to be consistent with mpox or other viruses and had been placed in quarantine on the vessel. Argentina which has had about a dozen cases of mpox but none of the newly identified more virulent second stain immediately launched its public health emergency protocol.

The vessel was ordered to anchor in the river and all the crew as well as the pilot that had boarded the ship were placed in quarantine and ordered not to disembark. Health officials boarded the ship to start health checks and took samples from the infected crewmember. 

Today, the tests confirmed the individual has chickenpox. The ship has been ordered to remain in quarantine until it can comply with the required health guarantees. 

The alarm about mpox came less than a week after the World Health Organization issued a warning about the new strain of the virus. WHO highlighted it is primarily in Africa having been reported in 13 countries and mostly concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The new strain seems to spread more easily and the symptoms are more severe.

Mpox first drew international attention in 2022 when it was called monkeypox and began spreading globally. The number of cases fell in 2023 after a global vaccination effort and control programs. However, CDC Africa is reporting a strong rise in the cases again in 2024 with over 1,400 new cases reported in the past week. In Africa, they cautioned there have been nearly 19,000 cases, a 100 percent increase, so far in 2024.

The WHO has said mpox is not the next pandemic with the concerns of COVID-19, but its warnings nonetheless have promoted countries to raise precautions. China announced new controls while countries such as Thailand are reporting investigations into possible cases. The concerns are especially high for seafarers who experienced many problems during the COVID-19 pandemic including being stranded at sea for long periods of time.