A French woman has tested positive for hantavirus, this is the woman who showed symptoms yesterday during the flight to return to France after the evacuation from the Mv Hondius ship. This was announced by the Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist, confirming that this is the first case of hantavirus in France. «His condition worsened during the night – the minister specified – the tests came back positive. She was admitted to a hospital specializing in infectious diseases.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said one of 17 American citizens repatriated from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship tested mildly positive. “One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested slightly positive for the Andes virus via PCR test,” the US ministry said.
The Greek passenger on board the MV Hondius, hit by a lethal Hantavirus epidemic, will be quarantined for 45 days. This was announced by the Greek Ministry of Health. The same source stated that the man, aged around 70, is “in good health and asymptomatic”.
After being evacuated from the MV Hondius today, the Greek passenger will be boarded on a special Greek Air Force flight. The flight will initially depart from the Canary Islands, Spain, to Eindhoven Airport, the Netherlands. He will be transferred to a specially set up negative pressure room at a hospital in Athens, where he will be placed in mandatory quarantine for 45 days, the ministry added.
Three passengers on the cruise ship – a Dutch couple and a German woman – died, while others fell ill from this rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. There are no vaccines or specific treatments for Hantavirus, which is endemic in Argentina, where the ship left in April.