NICD confirms rare human-to-human Andes hantavirus in MV Hondius passengers
The Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, informed Parliament that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which spreads human-to-human, in two people who came off a cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the disease.
A boat beside the cruise ship MV Hondius anchored off Cape Verde port, on the day sick passengers were evacuated by boat from the cruise ship, in Praia Port, Cape Verde, in this screengrab obtained from a video. Image credit: Reuters TV via Reuters
The ship, the MV Hondius, was preparing to travel from Cape Verde towards Europe after the Spanish government permitted it to dock in the Canary Islands.
The presentation seen by Reuters said the NICD's tests revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, and a British man who is still in hospital. Both had become ill on the ship.
"This is the only strain that is known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and, as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact," it said.
Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.
The Department of Health is currently actively tracing people who may have come into contact with confirmed hantavirus patients in the country, with 62 contacts identified, including flight crew and healthcare workers.
The contacts will be monitored until an incubation period has passed, and none have been diagnosed with the hantavirus so far.
Motsoaledi called on South Africans not to panic as authorities are closely monitoring the situation.
“We are tracking people who could have been in touch with (hantavirus) to see the extent to which other members of the public who got in touch with the patient or the deceased were affected.
"But up to so far, that information is not there. The work is still ongoing," said the minister.
The Swiss government said a man who returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the cruise ship was infected with the hantavirus and was being treated in Zurich. It said there was no danger to the broader population.