Man with hantavirus is being treated at Zurich University Hospital

Man with hantavirus is being treated at Zurich University Hospital Keystone-SDA

A man infected with hantavirus is being treated at the Zurich University Hospital, the Swiss government said on Wednesday, adding there is currently no danger to the Swiss population.

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The man was previously a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean on which several cases of hantavirus have occurred.

According to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the man had returned from a trip to South America with his wife at the end of April. After showing symptoms of the disease, he went to the Zurich hospital, where he was immediately isolated.

A test in the reference laboratory at Geneva University Hospital (HUG) confirmed an infection with the virus. The man’s wife did not show any symptoms, but went into self-isolation as a precaution. The cantonal authorities are currently clarifying whether the patient has had contact with other people.

Low risk for Switzerland

The European variant of the hantavirus is transmitted through excretions from infected rodents. However, in the case of the variant discovered in humans, the Andes virus, human-to-human transmission has also been observed in rare cases of close contact.

The FOPH considers the occurrence of further cases in Switzerland to be unlikely and categorises the risk to the population as low.

Hantavirus is rare in Switzerland. In recent years, between zero and six cases have been reported annually. The majority of these infections were due to infection abroad.

Cruise ship heads for Spain

The luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and marooned for days off the coast of Cape Verde with close to 150 people on board, is due to head to Spain, it was reported on Wednesday.

A Dutch couple and a German national who had been on the ship have died, while a British national is in intensive care in South Africa. The Netherlands is preparing to evacuate three patients who are on board.

Since the start of the outbreak, the World Health
Organization (WHO) has stressed that the risk to the broader public is low.

How outbreak unfolded

The deadly outbreak unfolded over the course of weeks on a cruise ship that sailed from Argentina toward Antarctica and then across the Atlantic Ocean, stopping at or near remote islands on the way as passengers and crew members fell sick, according to information from the cruise operator, WHO and ship tracking data.

It shows nearly a month passed between when an elderly Dutch man fell sick and died in the South Atlantic and laboratory tests in South Africa — more than 3,500 kilometers (2,174 miles) away — confirmed hantavirus infections.

Nearly 150 passengers and crew members from 23 countries were on the ship, which is waiting off the coast of West Africa.

The Dutch company that operates the ship offers “expedition cruises” that involve trips to the Antarctic and several islands in the South Atlantic to see some of the remotest places on earth.

The cruises can last a month or more and cost between $6,000 and $25,000, depending on the cabin.

The MV Hondius set off from southern Argentina on April 1.

Adapted from French by AI/sb

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