The World Health Organisation on Friday moved to calm global fears over hantavirus, confirming that a KLM flight attendant exposed to an infected cruise ship passenger has tested negative for the disease.
The development came as countries prepared repatriation flights for passengers stranded aboard the stricken MV Hondius. Three passengers from the Dutch-flagged vessel — a Dutch couple and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen ill with the rare disease, which ordinarily spreads among rodents.
The Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain capable of person-to-person transmission, has been confirmed among those who tested positive, fuelling international concern. WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier offered measured reassurance, noting that even passengers sharing cabins were not both falling ill in several cases.
“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected — the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” he told reporters.The MV Hondius, carrying around 150 people, is expected to dock at the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on Sunday, with special flights arranged to return passengers to their home countries. WHO confirmed five confirmed and three suspected cases, with no suspected cases remaining on the ship.
Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said 30 passengers, including the outbreak’s first fatality, disembarked at the remote British island of Saint Helena on April 24. A flight to Johannesburg the following day triggered a chain of contact tracing across multiple continents.
The infected passenger — wife of the first person to die — was removed from a Johannesburg-to-Netherlands flight before take-off on April 25 and later died in a Johannesburg hospital.
