Swiss authorities say man who traveled on cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus
GENEVA (AP) — Authorities in Switzerland said Wednesday a man who returned from South America and traveled on a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus and is receiving treatment.
Swiss authorities didn’t specify when exactly the patient was on board the MV Hondius, which is currently anchored off Cape Verde.
A statement from the Federal Office of Public Health said that the man “returned to Switzerland after travelling on the cruise ship on which there were a number of hantavirus cases.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African health authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can be transmitted from person to person, in two passengers who were on a cruise ship at the center of an outbreak of the rare infection, officials said Wednesday.
The virus is spread by rodents and, more rarely, people. It is typically contained because it would spread only through close contact, such as by sharing a bed or sharing food, experts say.
The World Health Organization says the Andes virus, a specific species of hantavirus, is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.
The South African Department of Health said in a report that the information came from tests performed on the passengers after they were removed from the ship and flown to South Africa.
One of the passengers, a British man, is in intensive care in a South African hospital. Tests were performed on the other passenger posthumously after she died in South Africa.
Three passengers have died in the outbreak of the rodent-borne virus on a cruise ship that is now sitting off the coast of Cape Verde in West Africa. At least four other people have fallen sick. Three of them are still on board, though there are plans to evacuate them from the ship.
The ship set sail from Argentina and two of the first cases on board, a Dutch woman who died in South Africa and her husband, had traveled in Argentina and elsewhere in South American before boarding the ship, WHO said.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
