Finnish health authorities are monitoring two travellers who were possibly exposed to the Andes strain of hantavirus during a flight from Johannesburg after sitting near an infected passenger linked to a cruise ship outbreak that has killed three people.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, known as THL, said the two passengers were on a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on 25 April. Both have since returned to Finland and remain without symptoms.
According to THL, the infected passenger was briefly on board the aircraft before airline staff stopped the traveller from flying because of deteriorating health. The passenger, a 69-year-old Dutch woman, later collapsed at the airport in Johannesburg and died in hospital the following day.
Helsingin Sanomat first reported that the two Finnish travellers had been seated close to the infected passenger during the short period she remained on the aircraft before departure.
THL specialist Liina Voutilainen told Helsingin Sanomat that the Finns had been advised to avoid unnecessary contact with other people and monitor themselves for symptoms at home. She said the exposure lasted less than one hour and the risk of infection remained “extremely unlikely”.
The travellers are not in hospital and have been referred to healthcare services as a precaution. THL said the pair are isolating voluntarily.
The agency said no other Finnish passengers are believed to have sat close enough to the infected traveller to be considered exposed.
The Andes strain of hantavirus is rare in humans and is found mainly in South America. Unlike most hantaviruses, the Andes variant has been linked in rare cases to person-to-person transmission after prolonged close contact.
Health officials said symptoms usually begin around two weeks after infection, though the incubation period ranges from one to six weeks. The disease causes respiratory illness and may include fever, coughing, nausea or diarrhoea. There is no vaccine.
THL said the mortality rate for Andes virus infections is estimated at between 20 and 50 per cent.
The Finnish agency stressed that the wider risk to the public remains low. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has also assessed the risk of wider spread in Europe as “very small”.
The virus outbreak has been linked to the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed from Argentina earlier this year. Five confirmed cases and three suspected cases have been identified among passengers. Three people have died, including a German man and a Dutch couple.
The ship is expected to arrive near Tenerife in the Canary Islands on Sunday. Spanish authorities are preparing evacuation procedures for more than 100 passengers still on board. According to Spanish media reports, passengers who test negative will be transferred directly to flights home.
Demonstrations were held in Tenerife on Friday over the arrival of the vessel. Authorities said the ship would remain offshore near Granadilla instead of docking in port.
Finnish authorities said no Finnish citizens were aboard the cruise ship itself.
The World Health Organization is working with European and national health agencies to trace passengers and monitor possible exposures connected to the outbreak.
Spanish health officials also reported a suspected hantavirus case in Alicante involving a woman who travelled on the same Johannesburg flight. Danish authorities earlier investigated another passenger from the flight, but late Friday said the person tested negative.
The Finnish government is now preparing emergency changes to infectious disease regulations. Social Security Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health wants to classify illness caused by the Andes virus as a generally dangerous communicable disease.
The move would give authorities broader powers, including the ability to order quarantine for suspected cases and provide infectious disease allowances for affected individuals.
The ministry said it hoped to introduce the regulation change as early as next week.
HT