KLM flight attendant hospitalized with suspected hantavirus

A KLM flight attendant from Haarlem, the Netherlands, has been hospitalized in Amsterdam with a suspected hantavirus infection after briefly coming into contact with a dying passenger connected to the deadly outbreak aboard the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius.

The flight attendant is in isolation at Amsterdam UMC with mild symptoms and is currently being tested for the hantavirus, the Dutch Ministry of Public Health confirmed.

The crew member came into contact with a 69-year-old Dutch woman who died of the virus in a Johannesburg hospital on April 26. A day earlier, the woman had briefly boarded KLM flight KL592 at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport before crew asked her to disembark because she was too ill to fly. “Due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time, the crew decided not to allow the passenger to travel on the flight,” a KLM spokesperson said. “The passenger sadly later passed away in Johannesburg.”

The woman’s 70-year-old husband and a German national are also among the three people who have died in the outbreak. A British passenger who fell ill after the ship left Saint Helena remains in intensive care at a private hospital in Johannesburg, though the World Health Organization said his condition is improving. A British crew member was separately evacuated to Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

The WHO said Thursday that eight hantavirus cases had been reported and five confirmed, warning that more may emerge in coming weeks due to the virus’ incubation period. No specific antiviral treatment exists for hantavirus; physicians rely on early, intensive supportive care to improve survival.

The outbreak involves the Andes strain of hantavirus, the only known strain capable of human-to-human transmission — though experts stress this is extremely rare and typically requires prolonged close contact.

As a precaution, all passengers aboard flight KL592 are being contacted by GGD Kennemerland, the regional Dutch health authority, and advised to monitor for symptoms, which can take anywhere from a few days to 60 days to appear.

French authorities said a French national was being monitored as a contact case after traveling on the same commercial flight — operated by South African carrier Airlink with 82 passengers and six crew — that transported the Dutch woman from the island of Saint Helena to Johannesburg.

The United States is among a dozen countries tracking former passengers of the ship. Health officials from Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia said they are monitoring residents who returned from the cruise, none of whom have reported symptoms. Officials said the risk to the public remains low.

The MV Hondius departed Cape Verde and is en route to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a journey the Spanish Ministry of Health said would take roughly three and a half days. Spain’s Health Ministry invoked its “moral and legal obligation” to assist those aboard after the Canary Islands initially refused the ship entry over public safety concerns.