Hantavirus: young Calabrian in symptomatic quarantine. Nine confirmed cases worldwide

In this case, the doctor on call at the Inmi Spallanzani can be contacted through the switchboard 06.551701 in cooperation with the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss)'.

This approach is aimed at 'facilitating the early identification of any sporadic or secondary cases and ensuring the timely activation of planned public health measures,' the circular states.

The seafarer from Torre del Greco (Naples) who was placed under a fiduciary quarantine by decision of the mayor of the Vesuvian city, Luigi Mennella, and the local health authority is fine.

This was announced by Asl Napoli 3 Sud through the director of the health authority's prevention department, Carmine Carbone. Carbone spoke today on Channel 9's 'Campania 24' television programme, explaining howthe 24-year-old is subjected to daily checks and constant monitoring regarding his state of health.

In the case of the seafarer from Torre del Greco,also like Federico Amaretti, slight contact with the 69-year-old Dutch woman who later died in a Johannesburg hospital (they were boarding the same plane bound for Amsterdam, a plane from which the woman was taken off by the staff after a few minutes and before take-off due to her poor health).

No swabs: 'We have never done any,' adds Carbone, 'not least because this type of check is triggered at the request of national and international authorities, which so far, in the presence of a clinical picture where no particular symptoms are recorded, have not deemed it necessary to do so.

Finally, some aspects related to sanitary precautions addressed to the population: 'Given that the changing climatic conditions may lead to greater contact between humans and rodents, we invite citizens to respect the rules related to the hygiene of our environments, such as correct waste collection and constant attention to removing weeds'.

Meanwhile, the last plane carrying passengers and crew evacuated from the cruise ship Mv Hondius, where an outbreak of hantavirus had been detected, also landed in the last few hours in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

The two aircraft from the Spanish Canary Islands carried a total of 28 people, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

On board the first plane were six Hondius passengers (four Australians, one New Zealander and a British citizen resident in Australia), who will be accommodated in a quarantine centre near the airport before returning to Australia.

They wore only masks and carried large white bags with their personal belongings.

The Mv Hondius left the Spanish island of Tenerife yesterday bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where it will dock to be disinfected. The arrival is scheduled for Sunday 17 May.

There are still 25 crew members and two medical personnel on board; the ship is also carrying the body of a German passenger who died during the cruise.

A dozen employees of the Nijmegen University Medical Centre will undergo a precautionary quarantine for six weeks after possible exposure to the Hantavirus. This was stated by the Radboudumc hospital quoted by the Dutch media, explaining that the workers did not follow the specific protocol in handling the blood and urine of a patient who had been hospitalised since 6 May because he tested positive for the viral infection after travelling on the cruise ship Hondius.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed two more cases of Hantavirus worldwide, bringing the total to nine. "Eleven cases have been reported to date, including three deaths," said WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press point quoted by Bfmtv. "Nine of the eleven cases have been confirmed as Hantavirus, while the other two are probable," he pointed out.

The eight people at risk of Hantavirus in France are already ''admitted'' to hospital or ''in the process'' of being admitted, according to the Paris government's strict new regulations, according to French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, speaking before members of the Assemblée Nationale.

All took the 25 April flight, also KLM, from St Helena to Johannesburg with the sick passenger.

Hantavirus: Paris, no certainty that virus has not mutated

Rist, speaking at the National Assembly, stated that he was 'not sure that the virus has not yet mutated'. "There are aspects that we do not know", "we still do not have the complete sequencing of the virus. 

We cannot state with certainty that this virus has not yet mutated,' he said, according to French broadcaster BfmTv.