Patient zero in ship hantavirus outbreak identified as Dutch national

meanwhile...

1. Spain readies for evacuations; ship heads for Canary Islands.
2. US passengers aboard cruise to quarantine in Nebraska.
3. WHO head to oversee evacuation of passengers and crew.
4. Two suspected cases found in Spain, remote Tristan da Cunha.

A Dutch birdwatcher who visited a landfill site described as the “end of the world” has been identified as patient zero in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on board the MV Hondius cruise ship. 

Ornithologist Leo Schil­p­e­roord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with wife after making a fateful visit to the rubbish tip in Argentina. Leo was the first passenger to lose his life to the virus while on board the vessel. His wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, disembarked the ship with his body but tragically died while atte­mp­t­ing to board a flight to the Ne­therlands from South Africa.

The couple, from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands, were named in obituaries published in their local monthly village magazine, the Sun reports.

Prior to boarding the MV Hondius, Leo and Mirjam had been on a five-month trip across South America. On March 27, they visited a landfill site four miles outside the city of Ushuaia. The vast rubbish tip on the town’s outskirts is home to rare species of Patagonian birds, including the White-bellied Seedsnipe. The site, dubbed “the end of the world” and shunned by locals, is a popular destination for birdwatching tourists.

Argentinian authorities be­lieve the Dutch couple contracted the feared Andes stra­in of the hantavirus at the site, likely through exposure to infected rodents at the rubbish dump. Four days later, on April 1, the couple set sail on the MV Hondius from Ushuaia, alongside 112 other passengers. By April 6, Leo reported suffering from a fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea. He passed away on the ship five days later, with his body remaining on board until April 24 when the ship docked in St Helena.

Mirjam travelled with his body to South Africa but she also became unwell. Her hea­lth worsened as she got ready to catch a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam. 

She briefly got on board but was denied clearance to travel and was instead rushed to hospital in South Africa where she passed away a day later on April 26. A third person from the ship, a German passenger, has also died. The tally has reached six, WHO said. Of these, three British citizens have confirmed cases.