WHO tracing over 80 people on flight taken by hantavirus victim

GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization said Tuesday it was tracing people on a flight between the island of Saint Helena and Johannesburg taken by a cruise ship passenger who died of hantavirus.

There had been 82 passengers and six crew onboard the April 25 flight, South African-based carrier Airlink told AFP.

They included a Dutch woman whose husband died of the virus on the ship and whose condition "deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg", WHO said in a statement.

She had left the ship in Saint Helena with "gastrointestinal symptoms" on April 24 and died upon arrival at the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital where she tested positive for the hantavirus, it said.

"Contact tracing for passengers on the flight has been initiated," WHO said.

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Airlink operates one flight a week from the island, which takes around four hours.

The South African authorities had asked the airline to notify the passengers that they must contact the health department, a representative, Karin Murray, told AFP.

WHO said it suspected that hantavirus may have spread between people on the cruise ship, which was on Tuesday stranded off Cape Verde.

Besides the Dutch couple, a German passenger has also died. There are seven confirmed and suspected cases.