South African health authorities are tracing 97 contacts of two patients confirmed to be infected with Hantavirus, for possible exposure to the virus. So far, 91 of the 97 contacts have been traced.
They include cruise ship and flight passengers, ambulance personnel, flight crew, medical crew, airport and port health officials, healthcare workers, facility security and cleaning staff.
One of the two patients, a Dutch woman, died at a hospital in Kempton Park. The second patient, a British man, is still receiving treatment at a Johannesburg hospital.
According to the national health department spokesperson, Foster Mohale, the man is “clinically and gradually improving”.
Thus far, no local cases have been reported.
“The suspected case of a Western Cape person who travelled in the same flight with the deceased Dutch woman from St Helena, has tested negative. So there’s no local transmission of the virus,” Mohale tells Health-e News.
Hantavirus are a group of viruses that infect people through contact with the droppings, urine, and saliva of rodents.
There are various strains of the virus. The strain behind the current multi-country outbreak is the South American or Andes virus.
This strain of the virus is the only one recorded to have spread from person to person, but the occurrence is rare and has been reported among close contacts in Chile and Argentina, according to the World Health Organisation.
In the recorded cases, person-to-person infection happened among close and prolonged contact, “particularly among household members or intimate partners”. — Health-e News
