ALBAWABA - Swiss authorities have confirmed a case of Hantavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday.
A Hantavirus outbreak was announced on board a cruise ship days ago. Three people died, while three others believed to have been infected with hantavirus have been evacuated from the ship off Cape Verde.
The remaining cases will be transported to the Netherlands, the WHO chief announced today.
The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that "the overall public health risk remains low" from the alert over the rare disease, which usually spreads from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva to humans, AFP reported.
Hantavirus. (Shutterstock)
How did Hantavirus arrive in Switzerland?
According to the organization, the case was identified after a passenger, who came from the MV Hondius cruise ship and entered the European country.
After receiving an email from the ship's operator about the spread o f the virus on the cruise ship, he presented himself to a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and is now receiving care.
In line with the International Health Regulations (IHR), WHO is working with relevant countries to support international contact tracing, to ensure that those potentially exposed are monitored so the virus won't spread.
The type of virus in this outbreak was listed as Andes hantavirus by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa and the Geneva University Hospitals.
