France confirms new Andes hantavirus case unlinked to May cruise ship outbreak that killed three
France has confirmed a new Andes hantavirus case, the only strain known to spread person to person, in a French-Argentine traveler isolating with family in Spain. Officials say it is unlinked to the cruise ship outbreak that killed three people in May, per Institut Pasteur's refe
France's health ministry has confirmed a new case of Andes hantavirus in a French-Argentine traveler who passed through the country in the second half of July, according to the National Reference Center for Hantaviruses at the Institut Pasteur, which confirmed the strain. The patient had mild symptoms and is now asymptomatic, isolating together with family members in Spain. Andes virus is the only hantavirus strain confirmed to spread from person to person, though officials note this type of transmission is rare and generally requires prolonged close contact. Authorities have found no link between this case and the outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius in May, which the World Health Organization confirmed was caused by Andes virus and which killed three people among at least ten confirmed cases. The recurrence of an unrelated Andes virus case in Europe just months after the cruise ship cluster underscores that this strain's ability to move between people, not just from rodents to humans, is the detail health authorities are tracking most closely. Most hantaviruses circulating in the Americas, Europe and Asia cannot make that jump.