Hantavirus patient isolated in Spain after France trip

A Franco-Argentine national who holidayed in France in July has been isolated in Spain after infection with the Andes strain of hantavirus was confirmed, the French health ministry said on August 6.

The ministry said the patient had few symptoms and now has none. It said measures had been put in place to trace the person's journey, experts were due to meet on Thursday to decide next steps and Europe-wide coordination was being established.

The Andes strain is the only hantavirus strain transmissible between humans. French authorities have not indicated a link to a deadly outbreak of the same strain on the MV Hondius cruise ship earlier this year, which prompted a global health alert. The World Health Organization declared that outbreak over in early July after the last affected person left quarantine.

The French health ministry said a French woman who contracted hantavirus on the MV Hondius was discharged from intensive care on Thursday after nearly three months and transferred to a rehabilitation centre. She had been repatriated in May in critical condition with four other French nationals, none of whom developed the disease.

The MV Hondius outbreak caused 13 cases, including three deaths. Hantavirus is a rare rodent-borne virus with no vaccines or specific treatments, while tens of thousands of infections are recorded worldwide every year, mostly from close contact with rodents.