Latest news Hantavirus outbreak: suspected case in hospital in Spain
In Spain, a woman with contact to the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after a hantavirus infection has been taken to a hospital with mild symptoms of the disease for monitoring. This was announced by the Secretary of State in the Spanish Ministry of Health, Javier Padilla. The woman is in a hospital in Alicante; the result of a PCR test is still pending.
08.05.2026, 17:46
08.05.2026, 17:54
SDA
She had briefly been on a KLM plane with the Dutch woman who later died, which was due to fly from Johannesburg to Amsterdam. However, the Dutch woman was taken off the plane shortly before take-off due to her poor state of health and died shortly afterwards in hospital.
The Dutch woman had cut short a cruise with the "Hondius" on St. Helena after her husband died on board. On April 24, she flew to South Africa with the body and tried in vain to fly home the following day.
Another person traveling on the same flight spent a week in Barcelona and then returned to her home country of South Africa, Padilla said. It is not known whether this person has symptoms.
A stewardess on the KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, who also had contact with the Dutch woman, has since been discharged from hospital. She is not infected, according to the Dutch Ministry of Health.
