The Hague, May 12
Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands has placed 12 employees in quarantine for six weeks as a precaution after incorrect procedures were followed while caring for a patient infected with hantavirus.
The hospital said on Monday that the issue involved procedures for drawing and processing blood samples, as well as the disposal of the patient's urine, reports Xinhua news agency.
"This blood was processed according to standard procedure. Due to the nature of the virus, this blood should have been processed according to a stricter procedure," Radboudumc said in a statement, without specifying what the stricter measures should have entailed.
The hospital added that it became clear on Saturday that the latest international guidelines for disposing of the patient's urine had not been followed.
As a result, 12 employees have entered preventive quarantine for six weeks. "Although the risk of actual infection is very low, these measures have a significant impact on everyone involved," said Bertine Lahuis, chair of the Executive Board of Radboudumc.
On Thursday, Radboudumc admitted a hantavirus-infected patient from the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius.
Meanwhile, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia on Monday announced that one of the 14 Spanish evacuees from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday has tested preliminarily positive for the virus.
Garcia wrote on X that one of the Spanish passengers currently under isolation at Madrid's Gomez Ulla hospital had tested preliminarily positive in a PCR test conducted upon arrival.
"The person remains in isolation, without symptoms and in general good health, under continued clinical observation in accordance with established safety and epidemiological protocols," she wrote.
The other 13 Spaniards tested provisionally negative, while final results were expected in the coming hours, the minister said.
According to health authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak is believed to involve the Andes strain of hantavirus, a variant known for possible person-to-person transmission through close contact. The virus is typically transmitted through exposure to infected rodent urine or droppings.
The Spanish evacuees were transferred to Madrid as part of an evacuation operation launched after the MV Hondius arrived in Spain's Canary Islands over the weekend, reports Xinhua news agency.
Multiple confirmed and suspected cases have so far been linked to the outbreak, including passengers transferred to several countries for treatment and monitoring.
The final group of evacuees left the ship on Monday after the vessel briefly docked at the Port of Granadilla on the Spanish island of Tenerife due to adverse weather conditions. The ship later departed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
- IANS
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