90-Second Read: Dutch hospital quarantines 12 staffers following Hantavirus protocol breach

A Dutch hospital has quarantined 12 staff members as a preventive measure after blood and urine from a Hantavirus patient were handled without observing strict protocols, as medics around the world work to stop the spread of the outbreak. The quarantining of the medics illustrates the challenge of quickly introducing and implementing stricter protocols needed in hospitals and elsewhere for dealing with the Hantavirus strain behind the outbreak that hit the Hondius luxury cruise ship. The Radboudumc hospital admitted its Hantavirus patient, a passenger from the cruise ship, on May 7. The World Health Organization increased its tally of confirmed cases in the outbreak to nine, up by two from the previous day.

Tedros warned that more cases were to be expected as there had been "a lot of interaction" between passengers before Hantavirus was detected. In the latest report of a potential case, Italy's ⁠top infectious diseases hospital said it would examine biological samples from a man who had been in contact with the Dutch woman who died of Hantavirus. The confirmed cases also include a French passenger who tested positive after the ⁠ship docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday and was in intensive care but in a stable condition. With the knowledge we have and the measures we are taking, we are confident we can keep this virus under control.

The 12 will be quarantined for six weeks, the Radboudumc hospital in the city of Nijmegen said, adding that the infection risk was very low and patient care continued uninterrupted. The virus can be deadly, although it does not spread easily from person to person. The likelihood that staff have been infected as a result is small, but because we know we are dealing with a serious virus, (the hospital) has said: we will play it safe." "It really is a different situation than with COVID. Spain announced late on Monday that a Spaniard had tested positive, one of 14 quarantining at a military hospital in Madrid.

Arnaud Fontanet, head of Epidemiology of Emerging Diseases at France's Pasteur Institute, said the hunt for new cases could drag on for months, since the incubation time was up to six weeks. The crisis, ⁠though, "is a good way for us to try to test all that has been done since COVID-19," to check how international coordination works, he told Reuters. In addition to the nine confirmed cases, the WHO recognizes two suspected cases, one person who died before being tested, and one on Tristan da Cunha, a remote South Atlantic island where there were no tests available.