The National Health Department said one of the four identified contacts had developed symptoms associated with the virus.
South Africa health authorities are monitoring four people in Cape Town for possible exposure to hantavirus following an outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, as countries across the world intensify contact tracing efforts to contain the disease.
National Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said one of the four identified contacts had developed symptoms associated with the virus and had been sent for laboratory testing.
“As the Department of Health, we can confirm that contact identification, tracing and monitoring of all people who were on the flight travelling between Saint Helena and OR Tambo International Airport with those who tested positive, are currently underway,” Mohale said, according to the SABC News.
He added that in the Western Cape, four individuals had been identified for contact tracing, with one person already undergoing laboratory testing after showing symptoms similar to hantavirus. Mohale said the department was closely monitoring the situation.
International response
The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius has triggered an international health response after three people — a Dutch couple and a German national — died from the virus. According to the World Health Organization, eight other people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected to have contracted the disease.
The Dutch government said around 40 passengers disembarked the vessel in Saint Helena before the outbreak was officially reported, raising concerns over the whereabouts of potentially exposed travellers.
Among those who left the ship was the wife of one of the Dutch victims who died aboard the vessel on April 11. She later became ill and died before reaching the Netherlands. Dutch airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said the woman had been removed from a flight in Johannesburg on April 25 after her condition deteriorated.
Health authorities confirmed the virus involved in the outbreak was the Andean strain of hantavirus, a rare variant capable of human-to-human transmission through very close contact. Medical experts have stressed that such transmission remains uncommon, but the incident has placed governments and health agencies on high alert.
Other national reactions
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was closely monitoring the situation involving American passengers aboard the ship, while maintaining that the risk to the US public remained extremely low.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said one French citizen had been in contact with an infected passenger but was not showing symptoms.
Meanwhile, authorities in Argentina announced plans to conduct rodent trapping and analysis in the southern city of Ushuaia, where the cruise ship began its journey.
The MV Hondius, carrying nearly 150 passengers and crew, is expected to dock in Tenerife by Saturday.
