25-year-old man hospitalised after coming into contact with woman who died from hantavirus
Topics: News, World News, Health, Europe
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Lina Selg / AFP via Getty Image
Topics: News, World News, Health, Europe
A 25-year-old man has been hospitalised after coming into contact with a woman who died from hantavirus following a recent outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship.
So far, 11 hantavirus cases have been reported among people on the cruise, including three deaths.
Nine of the 11 cases are confirmed, with two more probable cases.
Earlier today (12 May), Italy’s leading infectious diseases hospital said it would examine biological samples from a man in quarantine after he came into contact with one of the victims of the deadly virus.
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Italian news agency ANSA had earlier reported that the man, from the southern region of Calabria, had been admitted to hospital.
He had briefly been on the same plane as a woman who later died from the virus.
The woman was removed from a KLM flight before it departed from Johannesburg.
ANSA initially reported that the man was being transferred to Rome’s Spallanzani hospital, and the hospital later clarified that it was only expecting his biological samples for analysis.
Meanwhile, PA reports that a French woman who tested positive for hantavirus is in intensive care in stable condition at a Paris hospital.
One of the 18 evacuated passengers flown to the US has also tested positive but has no symptoms, while another had mild symptoms.
One British man with hantavirus is still being cared for in Johannesburg and is thought to be improving, while another is in the Netherlands.
Another British national has hantavirus and is isolating where he lives on the remote South Atlantic Island of Tristan da Cunha.
The UK Health Security Agency's latest hantavirus update shared Monday (11 May) adds: "Clinical assessments and testing are now well underway at Arrowe Park on the Wirral, for passengers repatriated from the MV Hondius.
"They include 20 British nationals, alongside one UK resident German national and one Japanese passenger. Two British nationals have returned home on repatriation flights to the USA, which were organised by the USA. Another British national is due to return to Australia.
"A further 3 British nationals are being treated by medical teams outside the UK – one in the Netherlands, one on Tristan da Cunha and a third in South Africa."
Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents that can be found in some areas of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Most hantaviruses don't spread between humans, although person-to-person transmission has happened with the Andes virus strain in rare cases, which is the strain identified on the cruise ship.
As outlined by the UK Health Security Agency, symptoms of hantavirus infection include:
In some cases, people can develop severe breathing difficulties requiring hospital care.
Symptoms usually appear between two and four weeks after being exposed to the virus, there are reports of symptoms occurring up to 40 days after exposure.
The UKHSA advises that it's highly unlikely that you will have been exposed to this virus, and contact tracing teams will contact you directly if there is any risk that you have been exposed.