About 40 passengers previously left ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak at island of St. Helena
AP News • • general
Key Points:
- About 40 passengers from a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak disembarked on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena after the first passenger died, according to Dutch officials.
- Among those who left the ship was the wife of a Dutch man who died; she later flew to South Africa and died after collapsing at an airport in Johannesburg.
- Authorities in South Africa and Europe are tracing contacts of passengers who disembarked at St. Helena, including a man who tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland after flying home from the island.
- Additional evacuations included a British man taken to South Africa from Ascension Island and three people, including the ship’s doctor, evacuated near Cape Verde and transported to Europe for treatment.
- The outbreak has resulted in three passenger deaths, with several others currently ill.
