A British man has spoken out from his hospital bed after receiving specialist medical treatment for Hantavirus – as the deadly infection has already killed three people
From his isolation bed in a Dutch hospital bed, 56-year-old British expedition guide Martin Anstee is a man at the centre of a global medical emergency.
The former police officer, who was working aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, is now one of the primary faces of a rare, person-to-person Hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives and triggered an international response.
“I’m not doing too bad,” Martin told Sky News. “I have no idea how long I’ll be in the hospital for. I’m in isolation at the moment.” As for his recovery plan, Mr Anstee said doctors “should have a clearer picture” later this week.
While he remains stable, doctors are working around the clock to gain a “clearer picture” of his condition. This specific outbreak has caused international alarm, because unlike typical Hantavirus strains which rely on rodent contact, this specific mutation appears to jump directly from human to human
READ MORE: ‘I’m a doctor, this is what people must know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak’
Investigators have traced the primary exposure back to a Dutch couple who went birdwatching in Ushuaia, Argentina. It is believed they visited a landfill site to photograph birds, where they were likely exposed to infected rodents.
The couple then boarded the MV Hondius cruise ship on April 1, alongside 88 passengers and 59 crew members, representing 23 different nationalities. On April 11, the 70-year-old Dutch male became the first suspected fatality and his body was removed from the boat on April 24.
His wife travelled to South Africa where she collapsed and died in Johannesburg airport. Now it’s been reported a German national has also died, bringing the death toll to three, with eight additional confirmed cases. Those with confirmed cases have been removed from the cruise ship and transported to the Netherlands for treatment.
Now it’s become an international medical emergency as a man who was not on board the hantavirus-stricken cruise liner – but shared a flight with someone who was – is said to have contracted the deadly disease as health officials closely monitor him.
The unnamed passenger, from France, is being monitored as a close contact case after reportedly developing signs of the rat-borne illness. He had boarded the same flight as an infected Dutch passenger who left the MV Hondius after having gastric symptoms, but did not know she was infected at the time.
South African-based carrier Airlink said the flight from the island of Saint Helena to Johannesburg was carrying 82 passengers and six crew, with World Health Organisation officials working to track down those on board. Three people – a 70-year-old Dutch man, his 69-year-old wife, and a German woman – have so far died after the outbreak linked to the cruise ship.
Meanwhile, health officials in Argentina – where the MV Hondius set sail a month ago – are investigating whether the country is the source of the outbreak. The nation’s health ministry announced yesterday that it will carry out rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia, its port of depature.
Argentina is consistently ranked by the World Health Organisation as having the highest rates of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America.
