The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the South African citizen who had brief and mild contact with people infected with hantavirus and traveled to Barcelona to spend a few days has been located. According to the authorities, the woman is in South Africa and shows no symptoms, after having stayed a week in Barcelona before returning to her country. The epidemiological investigation carried out has confirmed that, during her stay, she stayed alone in a hotel and did not have close contacts.
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The woman shows no symptoms and is said to have stayed alone during her stay in Barcelona
Health has confirmed that she was located thanks to the collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and the Ministry of the Interior. In parallel, a meeting has been organized in Barcelona in which the consellers of Presidency and Health, Albert Dalmau and Olga Pané, the Secretary of Public Health, Esteve Fernández, the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Narcís Pérez de Puig, and the director of the Catalan Health Service, Alfredo García, have participated.
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The health authorities recommend that the population get information through official channels and reliable media. “It is necessary to avoid the spread of rumors or speculations that may generate unnecessary alarm,” they point out, and emphasize that hantavirus transmission between humans requires close and prolonged contact, which has never been proven.
The South African citizen took a KLM flight on April 25 between Johannesburg and Amsterdam. On that plane was the body of the first person who died from hantavirus. His wife was also inside the plane for a few moments before being evacuated because she showed symptoms of the disease. Admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg, the woman died in this center the next day, April 26.
On the plane, two rows from the deceased woman, a 32-year-old neighbor from Alicante traveled, who underwent detection tests and tested negative. The situation on the aircraft of the South African man, who later traveled from the Netherlands to Barcelona, has not been disclosed.
The health authorities consider that, once her stay in the Catalan capital has been confirmed, it will not be difficult to reconstruct her activity, although the reasons for her trip and the details of her stay are still unknown: whether it was for business or tourism, whether she stayed with family or acquaintances or in a hotel, or if she visited the traditional tourist spots.
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