On Thursday morning, Dutch health officials reported a probable case involving an infected 69-year-old Dutch woman who had boarded a flight to the Netherlands for some time. The man, who was a flight attendant on that plane, is currently experiencing mild illness, but has been admitted to the hospital as a precaution. Officials are still waiting for tests to confirm whether the person is infected or not.
“WHO is aware of reports of other people with symptoms who may have had contact with one of the passengers. In each case, we are in close contact with the relevant authorities,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference Thursday.
Secondary matters?
As of early May 7, there are five confirmed and three highly suspected cases associated with hantavirus. HondiusAccording to WHO. These cases are caused by Andes virus, a species of hantavirus that is known to be able to spread between people.
All of these cases so far have occurred among people who were on board the cruise. The first case, a male Dutch resident, fell ill on 6 April and died four days later. His close contact, a Dutch woman, started feeling ill about two weeks later. She departed the cruise on 24 April, arriving at the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. From there the woman boarded a short flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Health officials say that on April 25, she attempted to take a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands, but flight staff asked her to leave the plane because of her illness. A day later, she died in an emergency room in the area, and testing later confirmed that she had hantavirus.
The flight attendant was on another KLM flight. According to the Dutch Health Ministry, the man is now being isolated at the Amsterdam University Medical Center due to mild illness while testing is underway to confirm his infection status.
If the attendant tests positive, it would be the first known secondary case of the outbreak spreading outside the cruise ship. Several media outlets reported yesterday that a French resident who shared a flight with a Dutch woman was suspected of having hantavirus. However, a WHO spokesperson told Gizmodo on Wednesday that they had not confirmed this. It now appears that this report was the result of a translation error, as other outlets have reported that French authorities have detected one “contact case” linked to the flight, meaning only that the person is being monitored as a precaution, not because they were actively showing symptoms of infection.
Three people were ill on Wednesday Hondius Medically evacuated. So far, according to WHO officials, all remaining passengers and crew are showing no signs of illness, and the ship is expected to dock in the Canary Islands over the weekend (despite ongoing protests from the local government).
But there may definitely be further cases. About 40 passengers are believed to have departed from the cruise and arrived in St. Helena at the same time as the Dutch woman, the Associated Press reported Thursday. And because it can take a relatively long time for people to fall ill after exposure, officials are trying to track and monitor these travelers and those who came into contact with them.
“Given the incubation period for the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it is possible that more cases could emerge,” Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.
That said, health officials continue to say the outbreak poses little risk to the general public.
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