Italian Contacts Under Observation After Hantavirus Cruise Ship Outbreak

A 24-year-old man from Naples province became a Campania citizen who was in contact with a confirmed case of Andes virus infection. This is stated in the official statement of the Ministry of Health. The man was in the same space for some time with a woman — the wife of the zero passenger and cruise ship passenger MV Hondius — on a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Rome.

The young man sat a few rows in front of the woman. She was removed from the plane due to symptoms, later she died, sharing the fate of her husband — the first to become infected during a photo hunt for wild animals on a trip with other birdwatching enthusiasts. The Ministry of Health initiated an investigation: samples and tests were transferred to the operational departments of local health authorities, then samples will be sent to the Higher Institute of Health in Rome.

Current Status and Monitoring

The young Neapolitan is currently under precautionary home quarantine, an epidemiological investigation is underway to track contacts. The man feels well, there are no symptoms. Molecular analysis will take a couple of days to complete genome sequencing procedures — similar to those used for SARS-CoV-2.

The procedure is absolutely precautionary: there is no alarm. The investigation was launched by the Ministry of Health after reports received through international channels about an Andes virus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius ship. Similar measures, for maximum caution, were activated for three other Italian citizens on the same flight. They are under monitoring in Calabria, Tuscany and Veneto.

Risk Assessment

All four are under monitoring and completely asymptomatic. Contacts with the deceased from infection were not close or prolonged. For this reason, the Italian health authorities consider them low-risk. International assessments by WHO and ECDC indicate low risk for the world population and very low risk in Europe.