JOHANNESBURG, May 6 (Reuters) – South Africa has identified the Andes strain of hantavirus, which spreads human-to-human, in two people who came off a cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the disease, the health minister’s presentation to parliament showed on Wednesday.
The ship, the MV Hondius, was preparing to travel from Cape Verde towards Europe on Wednesday after the Spanish government gave permission for it to dock in the Canary Islands.
The presentation seen by Reuters said tests done by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, and a British man who is still in hospital. Both had become ill on the ship.
“This is the only strain that is known to cause human to human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact,” it said.
Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov; Writing by Nellie Peyton;Editing by Tim Cocks and Andrew Heavens)
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