08.05.2026 20:18
Concerns over the deadly hantavirus have, so to speak, alarmed the entire world. Spanish Deputy Health Minister Javier Padilla announced that a Spanish woman who was on the same flight for a short time as a Dutch woman who died from hantavirus in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been hospitalized on suspicion of hantavirus. Padilla stated that a second person who had contact with the deceased woman and whose final destination is Spain is currently in South Africa.
The hantavirus infection, closely monitored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and for which 12 countries including Turkey have been informed, has recently returned to the global agenda due to fatalities.
WAS ON THE SAME PLANE, HOSPITALIZED WITH SUSPECTED HANTAVIRUS
It was reported that a Spanish woman, who briefly shared a plane with a Dutch woman who died from hantavirus in Johannesburg, South Africa, was hospitalized with suspected hantavirus.
In a press conference, Spain's Deputy Health Minister Javier Padilla announced that a person who had contact with the woman who died in Johannesburg and showed symptoms of hantavirus was referred to a hospital in Alicante as a suspected case and will be kept in quarantine.
Padilla stated that a second person who had contact with the deceased woman and whose final destination was Spain is currently in South Africa.
CREW DID NOT ALLOW HER TO FLY
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, who wanted to travel on a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, was not allowed to board by the crew due to her health condition, and she died from hantavirus in Johannesburg on April 26.
A female cabin crew member who briefly shared the plane with the deceased woman had also been hospitalized in the Netherlands in previous days.
DEVELOPMENT OF HANTAVIRUS CASES ON THE CRUISE SHIP
On the Dutch-flagged cruise ship "MV Hondius," which departed from Argentina on March 20, one person died from hantavirus on April 11, and with additional deaths on April 26 and May 2, a total of 3 people lost their lives.
The government of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) in western Africa did not allow the ship to dock at any of its ports on May 3, and the WHO provided information about the deaths and announced that analyses on the ship had begun.
On May 4, the WHO stated that there was no pandemic risk and that hantavirus was not a cause for concern.
The Spanish government also reported on May 5 that, after consultations with the WHO and other countries, it would accept the ship for the evacuation of passengers.
Currently, the ship, carrying over 140 passengers and crew from 23 different nationalities, is heading towards Tenerife in the Canary Islands group off the southeast coast of Spain. After the cases detected so far, the WHO stated that the "Andes" strain of hantavirus is transmissible from human to human.
HANTAVIRUS
Hantavirus is known as a disease mostly transmitted from rodents. The virus, which is transmitted by inhaling air mixed with dried feces, urine, and saliva of rodents, and sometimes by being bitten or scratched by a rodent, shows symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and muscle pain. The virus, which can also cause respiratory failure, sometimes progresses with internal bleeding and kidney failure.