Airlink faces scrutiny over eight-day delay in hantavirus contact tracing
via The Citizen2 min read
Airlink is working with authorities to trace passengers and crew from a flight from St Helena to Johannesburg after an eight-day delay in notification regarding a 69-year-old Dutch tourist who died from hantavirus. The passenger, who became critically ill on an Atlantic Ocean cruise ship, collapsed at OR Tambo International Airport on April 25 after arriving on the Airlink flight and later died in a Johannesburg hospital. Several Airlink staff are under medical observation due to direct contact with the infected passenger. Airlink CEO de Villiers Engelbrecht stated the airline was only informed of the potential dangers on Sunday. A KLM flight attendant who assisted the passenger was also hospitalized in Amsterdam with mild symptoms. Medical practitioner Juandre van den Berg expressed concern over the eight-day delay, highlighting the severity of the Andes strain of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which has a mortality rate as high as 50% in some regions. Symptoms include acute fever, body aches, lethargy, and respiratory distress, though the virus is fragile outside a host.
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