KLM flight attendant hospitalized after contact with hantavirus cruise ship passenger
Update 10:13 a.m. - Article updated to add the latest information about medical evacuations in the bottom six paragraphs
A KLM flight attendant from Haarlem has been hospitalized due to a possible hantavirus infection. She came into contact with the 69-year-old Dutch woman who died of the virus in Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight attendant is in isolation at Amsterdam UMC with mild symptoms. She is currently being tested for the hantavirus, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed to RTL Nieuws.
The Dutch woman died of the hantavirus in a hospital in Johannesburg on April 26. A day earlier, she had been on board a KLM plane at the O.R. Tambo International Airport for a “short period” before KLM staff asked her to disembark because she was sick.
After the woman was removed from the aircraft, the flight departed from Johannesburg to Amsterdam at 11:15 p.m. on April 25. The flight attendant now hospitalized in Amsterdam worked on that flight. She is being tested for the virus.
The Dutch health service GGD was working on contacting all the passengers on the flight, warning them to keep an eye out for symptoms. The health service has not yet issued any concrete advice regarding what passengers should do if they start showing symptoms.
According to the RIVM, the time between a hantavirus infection and the first symptoms showing can range from a few days to up to 60 days. On average, it takes two to four weeks for symptoms to start showing.
The hantavirus outbreak started on the Dutch cruise ship Hondius. Three passengers have died, including the Dutch woman and her husband. The Dutchman died of an apparent respiratory disease on board the cruise ship on April 11.
The shipping company sounded the alarm last week when another ill passenger, a British national who was receiving intensive care at a hospital in Johannesburg, tested positive for the hantavirus. The Dutch woman, who had already died by that point, was also tested for the virus, and the results came back positive.
Both tested positive for the dangerous Andes variant of the virus, a rare variant that can be transmitted from person to person. Most hantavirus variants spread through rodent droppings and urine. According to the WHO, there are now seven cases of hantavirus on the Hondius, including the three people who died.
Health authorities are working on getting the remaining passengers off the cruise ship. Three people were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday, with two landing at Schiphol Airport around 8:00 p.m on Wednesday and the third on Thursday morning.
The two who landed on Wednesday were transported to hospitals in Leiden and Düsseldorf, Germany. The patient in Germany is believed to be a 65-year-old German woman who is closely related to one of the three passengers on the cruise ship who died. The German emergency services said that she was in a stable condition and showing no symptoms of the hantavirus.
The patient taken to Leiden University Medical Center is a 56-year-old British man, Hondius crew member Martin Anstee. He told Sky News that he was feeling okay, but was still being tested for the virus. He is in isolation in the Leiden hospital.
The passenger on board the flight that landed on Thursday morning is likely a 41-year-old Dutchman, NOS reported. Ambulances received him at Schiphol Airport. The health authorities did not disclose where he will be treated.
In addition to these three patients, the person who first tested positive for the hantavirus is still in intensive care in South Africa, and a Swiss national with symptoms was admitted to a hospital in Zurich on Wednesday. His partner is in self-isolation as a precaution.
About 150 people are still on board the Hondius, including 10 Dutch. The ship departed from the coast of Cape Verde last night and is en route to the Canary Island of Tenerife. It is expected to dock there on Saturday, after which the remaining passengers who aren’t showing symptoms can disembark, according to NOS.
