{"id":61284,"date":"2026-05-06T23:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61284\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:32:32","slug":"health-alert-in-switzerland-man-contracts-hantavirus-after-south-american-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61284\/","title":{"rendered":"Health alert in Switzerland: Man contracts hantavirus after South American cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health officials in Switzerland have issued a serious warning after a man came back from a cruise in South America infected with a rare and potentially deadly hantavirus.<\/p>\n<p>The unnamed patient is now fighting the infection the <a href=\"https:\/\/iol.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/2026-05-06-south-africas-rapid-response-to-hantavirus-outbreak-receives-commendation-from-health-committee\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andes strain<\/a>, a variant known for rare human-to-human transmission.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials from Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) confirmed development.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One person with a <a href=\"https:\/\/iol.co.za\/capeargus\/news\/2026-05-06-woman-infected-with-hantavirus-collapses-at-or-tambo-international\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hantavirus<\/a> infection is currently being treated at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The man had been travelling with his wife on the MV Hondius and returned to Switzerland at the end of April.<\/p>\n<p>Three people have died from the virus, with one in critical condition in a Sandton hospital.<\/p>\n<p>After noticing symptoms, he contacted his doctor before being rushed for further checks, where he was immediately isolated.<\/p>\n<p>Tests conducted at Geneva University Hospitals confirmed a positive result for the Andes <a href=\"https:\/\/iol.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/2026-05-06-why-the-health-minister-is-urging-south-africa-not-to-panic-over-hantavirus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">virus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities are urging calm. The FOPH stressed: &#8220;There is currently no risk to the Swiss public.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The patient&#8217;s wife, who travelled with him, has not shown symptoms but is self-isolating as a precaution while officials trace any possible contacts during the infectious period.<\/p>\n<p>Health teams are now working around the clock, coordinating with local authorities, hospitals and the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain any potential spread.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The risk to the public in Switzerland is low.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, strict safety protocols remain in place at the Zurich hospital, which is specially equipped to handle such high-risk infectious diseases.<\/p>\n<p>IOL News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health officials in Switzerland have issued a serious warning after a man came back from a cruise in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33793,6027,33792,33794,33641,33796,8034,33673,33795,33791,17,33656,27036,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-61284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-andes","9":"tag-cruise","10":"tag-federal-office-of-public-health","11":"tag-geneva-university-hospitals","12":"tag-hantavirus","13":"tag-iol-news","14":"tag-man","15":"tag-mv-hondius","16":"tag-sandton","17":"tag-south-american","18":"tag-switzerland","19":"tag-university-hospital-zurich","20":"tag-world-health-organization","21":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116530246240356124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}