90-Second Read: The real reason a Hantavirus disaster was averted | Letters

Letters: <strong>Dr Matthew Dryden </strong>praises an astute doctor and the value of teamwork across continents. The astute doctor on Ascension Island recognised a cluster of cases on the MV Hondius when a sick passenger was brought ashore for treatment. Passengers incubating Hantavirus would have disembarked and travelled to their home countries.

The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) programme funded by the Foreign Office and managed by the UK Health Security Agency supports health services in all UKOTs around the globe. These are small and vulnerable communities with very limited medical services in most cases. The key success of this lean but effective programme lies in close communication and strengthening the health services.

Without this, the ship would have sailed on to Cape Verde. Until all people throughout the world have equal access to public health measures against novel infectious diseases, we will all be vulnerable to the next unexpected product of a world stressed by inequality and a privileged elite. Newly developed diagnostic equipment on the island was able to exclude common causes.