Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with his wife after making a fateful trip to a landfill site in Argentina
A Dutch birdwatcher who visited a landfill site described as the “end of the world” has been identified as patient zero in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on board the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with his wife after making a fateful visit to the rubbish tip in Argentina. Leo was the first passenger to lose his life to the virus while on board the vessel.
His wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, disembarked the ship with his body but tragically died while attempting to board a flight to the Netherlands from South Africa.
The couple, from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands, were named in obituaries published in their local monthly village magazine, the Sun reports.
Prior to boarding the MV Hondius, Leo and Mirjam had been on a five-month trip across South America. On 27th March, they visited a landfill site four miles outside the city of Ushuaia.
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The vast rubbish tip on the outskirts of the town is home to rare species of Patagonian birds, including the White-bellied Seedsnipe. The site, dubbed “the end of the world” and shunned by locals, is a popular destination for birdwatching tourists.
Argentinian authorities believe the Dutch couple contracted the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus at the site, likely through exposure to infected rodents at the rubbish dump.
Four days later, on April 1, the couple set sail on the MV Hondius from Ushuaia, alongside 112 other passengers. By April 6, Leo reported suffering from a fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea. He passed away on the ship five days later, with his body remaining on board until 24th April when the ship docked in St Helena.
Mirjam travelled with his body to South Africa but she also started to become unwell. Her health subsequently worsened as she got ready to catch a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam.
She briefly got on board but was denied clearance to travel and was instead rushed to hospital in South Africa where she passed away a day later on April 26. A third person from the ship, a German passenger, has also died.
“Like birds in flight,” read one of the obituaries published in Dutch in the April edition of the Haulerwijk magazine. “We will miss you and the stories.”
The tally of hantavirus cases connected to the outbreak on MV Hondius has climbed to six, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Saturday. Of these, three British citizens have confirmed cases.
