WHO tracing over 80 people on flight taken by hantavirus victim

GENEVA, Switzerland, May 6 ------ The World Health Organization said it was tracing people on a flight between the island of Saint Helena and Johannesburg taken by a cruise ship passenger who died of hantavirus. There had been 82 passengers and six crew onboard the April 25 flight, South African-based carrier Airlink told AFP.

They included a Dutch woman whose husband died of the virus on the ship and whose condition "deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg," the WHO said in a statement. She had left the ship in Saint Helena with "gastrointestinal symptoms" on April 24 and died upon arrival at the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital, where she tested positive for the hantavirus, it said. "Contact tracing for passengers on the flight has been initiated," WHO said.

Airlink operates one flight a week from the island, which takes around four hours. The South African authorities had asked the airline to notify the passengers that they must contact the health department, a representative, Karin Murray, told AFP. WHO said it suspected that hantavirus may have spread between people on the cruise ship, which was stranded off Cape Verde on Tuesday.

Source: manilatimes.net