The first person to have died from the Hantavirus aboard a cruise ship, has been identified at Leo Schilperoord.
Image: Facebook
The first person to have died from the Hantavirus aboard a cruise ship, has been identified as Leo Schilperoord.
It is believed the 70-year-old Dutch resident was an ornithologist who visited an Argentinian landfill hours before he and his wife, Mirjam, boarded the ship.
The couple was travelling aboard the cruise ship for a five-month trip to South America, according to the New York Post.
The couple travelled to Argentina, then through Chile, Uruguay and back to Argentina.
The NY Post reported that on March 27, the couple visited a landfill outside Ushuaia. The landfill is a well-known spot for bird watchers but avoided by locals due to the heaps of trash.
According to NY Post, this is where authorities suspect the couple contracted the virus. Officials claim the couple may have inhaled particles from the faeces of long-tailed pygmy rice rats, known to carry the Andes strain of the Hantavirus.
The couple then embarked on the MV Hondius.
Later, Schilperoord complained of a fever, coupled with a headache and diarrhea. He died a day later.
Mirjam disembarked from the ship, with her husband's body in Santa Helena. From her, she was flown to Johannesburg and was meant to travel to the Netherlands. She collapsed and died the next day.
The NICD says the Hantavirus is NOT spreading in SA
Image: NICD
There is NO Hantavirus outbreak in SA
Image: NICD
Netherlands - Two deaths (Leo and Mirjam Schilperoord). A Dutch doctor was evacuated to the Netherlands the same day after the ship stopped off Cape Verde and was stable while being treated in isolation.
Britain - Two British nationals have been confirmed as infected and one is classed as a "probable" case. A third British man left the Hondius on the South Atlantic Archipelago of Tristan da Cunha and was treated in isolation there.
Germany - A German woman who had a fever on April 28, and later developed pneumonia and died.
Switzerland - A Swiss man disembarked from the Hondius in St Helena. He tested positive.
France - A French woman tested positive.
USA - One of 17 American citizens repatriated from the ship tested mildly PCR positive for the virus, while another had mild symptoms.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said Hantavirus is usually linked to rodent exposure in endemic countries and has been reported among specific travellers from the MV Hondius cruise ship. It is a rare but serious illness.
"The reported Hantavirus cases linked to a cruise voyage are associated with exposure outside South Africa. Health authorities are closely monitoring the situation," the NICD said.
IOL