Stewardess on flight that hantavirus-infected passenger tried to board is feared to have caught disease
The worker encountered a Dutch woman, who later died, on a KLM flight
An air hostess is being treated in hospital after coming into contact with a rat virus MV Hondius passenger who tried to get on a plane to Amsterdam.
Listen to this article
The Dutch KLM worker is believed to have come into contact with a woman who was infected with the hantavirus and later died.
The contagious passenger got off the stricken MV Hondius ship on the remote island of Saint Helena before flying to Johannesburg, South Africa.
She then attempted to board a flight to the Netherlands but was removed before take-off due to her deteriorating condition. She later died in hospital.
The stewardess - believed to be Dutch - has been sent to hospital where she is being treated for "mild symptoms" having encountered the ill woman.
Eight cases of the virus have been reported, five of which are confirmed cases and three suspected. Three people have died so far including the Dutch woman, her husband, and a German national.
Authorities believe the Dutch couple may have contracted the disease after visiting a landfill site on a birdwatching trip where they may have been exposed to rats carrying the disease.
The WHO has been trying to establish how the virus got on the ship, with the first person who died having developed symptoms on April 6.
Health officials are now trying to trace at least 69 passengers who were on board the same two flights as the Dutch woman before she died.
A British crew member who has been taken ill with the virus has been evacuated to the Netherlands on Wednesday.
He has been identified as former police officer Mike Anstee, 56, who is now an expedition guide on the MV Hondius, and is said to be doing "okay".
A guest stranded on MV Hondius also said staff organised a "big barbecue as if nothing had happened" despite the deadly outbreak
Earlier on Thursday, the World Health Organisation chiefs said that it is possible that more cases may be identified given the incubation period of the virus, but that none of the remaining passengers or crew currently aboard the ship are symptomatic.
WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus told a press conference: "Last Saturday, the United Kingdom notified WHO, under the International Health Regulations, of a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship the MV Hondius, which had travelled from Argentina to Cape Verde.
"So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus, and the other three are suspected."
Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, the WHO's director at the alert and response co-ordination department, said: "If we follow public health measures, and the lessons we learned from Argentina are shared across all countries, we can break this chain of transmission and this doesn’t need to be a large epidemic."
Dr Mahamud added: "We don’t anticipate a large epidemic. With experience our member states have, and the actions they have taken, we believe that this will not lead to subsequent chain of transmission."