Netherlands: 6-week quarantine after outbreak
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A hantavirus outbreak in the Netherlands led to a six-week quarantine for more than one hundred people who contacted the infected. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment announced the measures after three farm workers contracted the Puumala virus.
The infection was identified among employees of a farm in Limburg province. Two of them are in serious condition in Maastricht hospital. The third worker is being treated on an outpatient basis. All three became infected through contact with mice, which are carriers of the Puumala virus.
Scale of Quarantine Measures
Family members of the infected, work colleagues, and medical staff who contacted the patients are under observation. Officials emphasize that the risk of human-to-human transmission is extremely low. Quarantine was introduced as a precautionary measure.
Puumala virus was first recorded in the Netherlands in 2012. Since then, about 20 cases of infection have been registered in the country. Mortality is about one percent with timely treatment.