A Dutch air hostess has been hospitalized after coming in contact with a cruise passenger carrying the rat virus as the number of infections rose to nine.
The KLM stewardess was flown to Amsterdam for treatment with “mild symptoms” after meeting an infected woman who later died from hantavirus.
It comes like this…
When the infected woman attempted to fly from South Africa to the Netherlands, she came into contact with an infectious passenger from a rat virus cruise ship.
It comes as fears of global spread grow – two Britons are isolating in the UK, a Swiss man is being treated in Zurich and three people, including a British crew member, have been medically evacuated to the Netherlands.
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Two Singapore residents have been kept in isolation awaiting tests for the deadly disease.
WHO confirmed yesterday that the hantavirus strain was the Andes variant, a rare version of the usually rat-borne virus that can spread from person to person.
Investigators believe the virus was brought on board the ship by a Dutch couple who caught it while bird watching in Argentina, and both died.
After the first passenger, a Dutch man, died on April 11, his wife disembarked in St. Helena and flew to Johannesburg.
The woman then tried to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam, but was removed from the plane before it could take off.
KLM said he was not allowed to fly due to his worsening medical condition.
After this, the woman died of Hantavirus in a hospital in Johannesburg.
A French case of the virus — not the first in a cruise ship passenger — has been linked to a dead Dutch woman’s flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg.
Infected air hostess brings known cases to nine.
A total of three people – a married Dutch couple and a German citizen – have already died from the virus.
Authorities are trying to locate 40 people who disembarked from the MV Hondius off the remote British territory of St. Helena on April 25.
One passenger said they did not realize they had been exposed to the deadly virus when they disembarked from the plane.
passenger told El Pais: “There are 23 people roaming around and no one had contacted them until three days ago.”
“Australians went back to Australia, Taiwan to Taiwan, Americans to all corners of North America. The British went to England, the Dutch went home… I don’t remember the rest.”
But Dutch officials later said about 40 passengers abandoned ship in St. Helena.
The ship operator then said 29 passengers had disembarked in the remote British territory, and said there were now “no symptomatic people” left on board.
The passengers who disembarked in St. Helena included seven Britons and people from a total of 12 nationalities.
He did not confirm where all the passengers were now.
There were about 145 passengers left when the ship set sail for the Canary Islands.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer of the UK Health Protection Agency (UKHSA), suggested that asymptomatic British passengers still on board the ship would self-isolate for 45 days after returning home.
A British crew member suffering from the virus was medically evacuated from the infected ship yesterday.
Martin Anstey, 56, is former Police officer who was working as an expedition leader on the cursed cruise ship.
What is Hantavirus? Bug with 40% mortality rate reaches Europe
By Bethan Moss and Eliza Loukou
The deadly virus that spread aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius and killed three people is usually spread through contact with rodent feces.
But this particular strain, known as “Andes virus,” is a worrying exception.
Found only in the mountains of Argentina and Chile, this strain is the only hantavirus that has demonstrated the ability to spread between humans.
And WHO believes this strain could have a horrific mortality rate of up to 40 percent.
Passengers aboard the MV Hondius stranded in the Atlantic Ocean could face up to a week in isolation as authorities struggle to contain an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus.
So far, three passengers have died, while others believed to be infected with the virus have been evacuated from the ship.
Meanwhile, a French national who was not on the cruise liner has reportedly been infected with hantavirus after flying with an infected passenger.
This is the first case of fatal disease in a patient who was not on the MV Hondius.
But it is not the first case in Europe since the pandemic was declared over the weekend.
A passenger aboard the MV Hondius is being treated in Zurich, according to the Swiss Health Ministry – while stressing that “there is currently no risk to the Swiss public”.
As for passengers still on board the luxury ship, they could face up to two months of quarantine, experts have warned – as the virus has an incubation period of eight weeks.
This means that people exposed to the virus may not develop symptoms until eight weeks later.
Hantavirus is spread by rats through contact with their urine, feces and saliva.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10,000 to 100,000 cases occur in humans each year worldwide.
Symptoms range from mild flu-like illness to major respiratory problems or internal bleeding.
Although uncommon, limited human-to-human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of Andes virus – a distinct species of hantavirus.
The strain found largely in Chile and Argentina — where the cruise ship decamped began in March — is the only known variant that can spread through close, prolonged human-to-human contact.
The WHO confirmed on Wednesday that the outbreak on the cruise ship is Andes hantavirus.
South African officials also confirmed that the Andes strain has caused infection in two cruise passengers.
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Now his condition is stable and he is undergoing treatment in the Netherlands.
Doctors said Martin’s condition had improved and he was now in “critical but stable”.
While talking to the hospital he told sky News: “I’m fine. I’m not feeling too bad. There are still a lot of tests to be done. I don’t know how long I’ll be in the hospital. I’m in isolation at the moment.”
