The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has reported that a person has been taken to a hospital in Alicante for having symptoms compatible with hantavirus, after sitting two rows behind a Dutch woman with symptoms who was on the KLM flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam and who ultimately died from the virus the next day.
Padilla said that, although the woman from Alicante, aged 32, was seated two rows behind the cruise passenger, the contact between them “was brief,” since the Dutch woman had been “on board for a short time” (barely an hour) because, as she showed symptoms, the crew forced her to leave the plane and did not allow her to fly to the Dutch capital.
Coincidence
Both passengers briefly coincided on the same flight with the infected Dutch woman who died on April 26
“The person has reported symptoms mainly related to cough, but general well-being, while at her family home in Alicante. Immediately, we contacted the General Directorate of Public Health of Spain, and in coordination with the Health Department, she was transferred preventively and safely to a hospital,” in an isolation room, Padilla indicated.
This woman will undergo a PCR test, which will be analyzed by the National Center for Microbiology in Majadahonda and whose result is expected within 24 hours. In case of a negative result but symptoms persist, the PCR would be repeated after 24 hours; if it remains negative, symptoms continue, and “there is no other compatible condition that could provide the diagnosis,” the PCR would be repeated after 48 hours.
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It may also be that the PCR is negative and she no longer has symptoms, Padilla notes. In this case, she would be considered a contact and transferred to the Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid, which has already been informed of this situation.
And the other scenario would be that the patient tests positive, something “quite unlikely,” given the “brief contact” with the infected woman when they were trying to transfer her by plane from South Africa to the Netherlands.
The Secretary of State for Health also reported that there is another passenger who came to Spain after traveling on that same KLM flight. She is a South African woman who spent a week in Barcelona but has already returned to her country. Padilla explained that contact is being made with South Africa to locate her and conduct the appropriate tests. Likewise, the senior official insisted that it is “very unlikely” that this passenger is positive.
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