Suspected hantavirus cases in Spain and Tristan da Cunha; Italy monitors four contacts
Two suspected hantavirus cases were reported on Friday, one in Spain and another on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, as authorities across Europe trace contacts linked to an outbreak on the Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius. Spanish health officials said a 32-year-old woman in the southeastern province of Alicante is being tested after developing symptoms consistent with hantavirus infection.
She had briefly sat on a plane behind a Dutch woman who was infected on the MV Hondius, Spain’s Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla told reporters. The Dutch passenger left a flight in Johannesburg after feeling unwell before its 25 April departure and later died in hospital.
The UK Health Security Agency said a British man on Tristan da Cunha is also suspected to be infected. Officials there said he had been a passenger on the MV Hondius, which called at the island between 13 and 15 April. In parallel, Italy’s Ministry of Health said it is monitoring four people who were on a KLM flight to Rome on which the woman later hospitalized in Johannesburg had boarded for a few minutes.
The ministry said it has activated required procedures for risk assessment, surveillance and health coordination in line with national and international protocols, and that contact details for the four passengers have been obtained. The World Health Organization has confirmed eight hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius, three of them fatal.
Testing indicated the outbreak involves Andes virus, the only hantavirus species known to be capable of limited human-to-human transmission through close, prolonged contact, according to WHO. The vessel carried 147 passengers and crew when the virus was reported.
By that time, 34 other passengers had already disembarked from the ship, which left Argentina in March with stops in Antarctica and other locations before sailing north toward waters near Cape Verde off West Africa. The ship was briefly held there this week after news of the outbreak emerged.
Authorities in Spain, the UK and Italy have not reported additional suspected cases tied to these incidents beyond those described. Officials said monitoring and testing are continuing, and they urged close contacts to follow public health guidance while assessments proceed.