An additional suspected case of hantavirus has been identified in a British national on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, UK officials said.
Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – died in the outbreak on the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius. In total, five people are confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Two British nationals have been confirmed as cases of hantavirus, as part of its monitoring of the outbreak on the ship, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an update on Friday.
The agency did not provide further details of the new suspected case.
READ MORE
Elsewhere, the World Health Organisation on Friday said a Dutch KLM flight attendant who had been in contact with a woman who died from a hantavirus infection in Johannesburg had tested negative for a possible infection.
The woman had been admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam on Thursday with signs of a possible infection.
The MV Hondius is expected to dock in Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands, on Sunday, and the UKHSA said British nationals on board who are not displaying symptoms will be flown back home and asked to isolate for 45 days.
Seven Britons disembarked the ship on April 24th in St Helena. The agency said two are isolating in Britain already, four are in St Helena and one has been traced outside the UK.
Orthohantaviruses, more commonly known as hantaviruses, are a group of viruses primarily found in rodents but that can infect humans.
Hantaviruses are spread to humans via inhalation of or contact with infected rodent faeces, urine and saliva – or, more rarely, through bites and scratches from contaminated animals.
An investigation into the suspected hantavirus outbreak on MV Hondius was under way.
The MV Hondius, which was carrying about 150 passengers from various countries, left Ushuaia in Argentina about three weeks ago for the Canary Islands, stopping in mainland Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan, St Helena, Ascension and Cape Verde. – Reuters, The New York Times
