Dutch health authorities investigating a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship have identified a 70-year-old ornithologist as the suspected first case in the cluster. Leo Schilperoord and his wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, both from the Dutch village of Haulerwijk, had been travelling across South America for several months before boarding the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius in Argentina in April.
The couple had arrived in Argentina in November before travelling through Chile and Uruguay, according to local reports and obituaries published in a village magazine in the Netherlands. Both were known for their passion for birdwatching and had previously co-authored a study on pink-footed geese for the Dutch ornithological magazine Het Vogeljaar in 1984.
In late March, the pair returned to Argentina and visited a landfill site near the southern city of Ushuaia, a location popular with birdwatchers hoping to spot the rare white-throated caracara, also known as Darwin’s caracara after naturalist Charles Darwin.
Argentine authorities believe the couple may have been exposed there to theAndes strain of hantavirus,which is carried by long-tailed pygmy rice rats. The Andes strain is the only known form of the virus capable of human-to-human transmission.
"It is common for birdwatchers to visit landfills because there are many birds there," local guide and photographer Gastón Bretti toldAnsa Latina."It’s a mountain of waste that today far exceeds the limit initially established by the authorities," he said.
The Schilperoords boarded the MV Hondius from Ushuaia on 1 April alongside 112 other passengers, many of whom were scientists or birdwatchers.
According to reports, Leo Schilperoord developed symptoms including fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea on 6 April. He died aboard the vessel five days later.
Medics escort a patients evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship with suspected hantavirus infection.
His wife later disembarked with his body during a scheduled stop on the Atlantic island of St Helena on 24 April. She travelled onward to Johannesburg and was due to board a KLM flight to the Netherlands, but airline staff determined she was too ill to continue travelling. She reportedly collapsed at the airport and died the following day.
Health officials are continuing to investigate the outbreak and monitor passengers from the voyage. At least seven American passengers who had travelled on the same route to Johannesburg have since returned to the United States, including two residents of New Jersey.
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