90-Second Read: Countries Differ On Discharge Criteria For Andes Hantavirus Patients

Two patients sought care in the Netherlands, and both were discharged after two negative saliva tests, said Karin Veldkamp, head of infection control at the University Medical Centre in Leiden, Netherlands. We recommended a monthly clinical review during the first six months after discharge to detect both clinical and psychological sequelae from these patients. However, the UK designates the Hantavirus as a "high consequence infectious disease", based on the lack of medical countermeasures and vaccines, and its high case fatality rate.

This emerged during a briefing convened by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Information Network for Epidemics (Epi-WIN) team on Tuesday, with medical experts who had treated patients. Spain also treated two confirmed cases and managed 12 asymptomatic contacts. It required patients to have two negative PCR tests from oropharyngeal (throat) and urine samples, said Octavio Garcia, from the high-level isolation unit at the Infectious Diseases Department of Hospital Central de la Defensa in Madrid.

As the virus can persist in the blood and semen, the Spanish health authorities also recommended four months of safe sex practices post-discharge. A UK citizen who flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, after leaving the cruise ship in St Helena, was the first person to be diagnosed with the virus, prompting the UK to notify the WHO of the outbreak. Garcia said that the PCR tests of the blood of both Spanish patients "were positive throughout the disease, even after clinical convalescence".