Two Italian seafarers, a 24-year-old from Torre del Greco and a 25-year-old Calabrian from Villa San Giovanni, are in mandatory quarantine after coming into contact, during an international flight, with a female passenger who later died of Hantavirus. The case is attracting the attention of European health authorities also due to the direct involvement of maritime personnel returning from embarkations in the South African area.
According to what has been reconstructed by health authorities, the two seafarers were on board a KLM flight departing from Johannesburg and bound for Amsterdam. On the same plane, a 69-year-old Dutch woman from the cruise ship Hondius had passed through for a few minutes, later dying after being hospitalized in South Africa.
The young man from Campania was working on board another ship operating in South Africa. After returning to Italy, he was served with the quarantine order issued by the mayor of Torre del Greco (Naples), Luigi Mennella. The Dutch health authorities had reported the case to the relevant Italian Regions almost two weeks after the passengers’ return to the country. The seafarer is currently asymptomatic.
A similar measure was adopted in Calabria against the 25-year-old Federico Amaretti, a seafarer residing in Villa San Giovanni (Reggio Calabria). The mayor, Giusy Caminiti, has ordered a 45-day isolation. The young man was already in voluntary self-isolation since his return on May 5th, even before the official notification by the Local Health Authority (Asp) and the local police. He too, according to what has been reported by the authorities, shows no symptoms and is constantly monitored.
The health emergency is linked to the cluster that developed on the cruise ship Hondius, where limited human-to-human transmission of Hantavirus is suspected. The World Health Organization has explained that the contagion may have occurred among people who remained in close contact during the voyage, although a zoonotic origin prior to embarkation is not ruled out.
The Italian Ministry of Health has activated health surveillance on the four passengers present in Italy who were on the flight involved. In addition to the two Italian seafarers, two foreign citizens residing in the country are also being monitored. Health authorities continue to define the risk of spread as low, while nevertheless emphasizing the importance of precautionary isolation to prevent any mutations or secondary transmission of the virus.
