-
Hospital beds in a hospital ward.
Some residents in Johannesburg say they remain hopeful that the Department of Health will contain recently detected hantavirus cases linked to an international cruise ship.
Three people who were on board the vessel travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde have died, while one patient remains in a serious condition at a Johannesburg hospital.
According to the World Health Organisation, hantavirus spreads through contact with the urine, faeces or saliva of infected rodents, and can also be transmitted through contaminated surfaces.
The Department of Health says 62 individuals have been identified as possible contacts with infected persons. Of these, 42 have been traced and are being monitored.
Some Johannesburg residents say they are not alarmed by the situation.
“I don’t think I am scared, I don’t think as a nation we should freak out,” says one resident.
“We do have experience, I would assume that the government has an eye already on the situation and should respond with caution. I hear about it on national tv, I am not scared about it, I think it is under control,” says another resident.
Hantavirus | Contact tracing has identified 62 individuals:
Health experts say the risk to the public remains low.
Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, Tulio de Oliveira says, “We don’t expect to see in many cases in South Africa. The outbreak normally involves rodents and humans, yeah, and once detected, individuals isolated, which is the case now, and South Africa has very good isolation facilities where we deal with other pathogens like TB, that’s highly transmissible. Yeah, the case tends to stop transmission.”
The WHO says it was alerted to cases of severe respiratory illness on the cruise ship on 2 May, with laboratory tests confirming hantavirus in some cases.
Symptoms of the virus include fever, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and, in severe cases, respiratory distress and organ failure.
Authorities say the infected patient in Johannesburg is being treated in isolation, while international efforts continue to trace contacts and determine the source of the outbreak.
The Department of Health has urged the public to remain calm as monitoring and containment measures continue.
Hantavirus | Update on patient being treated in SA
