A flight attendant in the Netherlands has been hospitalised after coming into contact with a cruise ship passenger infected with hantavirus. The airline staff member, believed to be a KLM stewardess, was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam and placed in isolation after developing mild symptoms, the New York Post reported citing Dutch media reports. Health officials said she had brief contact with an elderly Dutch passenger who later collapsed and died.
Three people — a Dutch couple and a German national — died in the outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss national, are suspected to have caught the virus, which usually spreads through contact with infected rodents, the World Health Organization said.
Authorities said the infected Dutch woman had been evacuated from the ship after her husband, aged 70, died onboard. She was transferred to Johannesburg on April 25 for onward travel to the Netherlands but was deemed too ill to fly.
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