Health alert for hantavirus: a contact spent a week in Barcelona

Health authorities are investigating a possible hantavirus case with a connection to the Catalan capital and a second suspicious case in Alicante.

Generic image of medical supplies, such as a mask and gloves, on a sterile surface.
IA

Generic image of medical supplies, such as a mask and gloves, on a sterile surface.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that a person who was in contact with a hantavirus victim in Johannesburg spent a week in Barcelona, activating follow-up protocols.

This individual, who briefly boarded a plane carrying the infected passenger, has since returned to South Africa. Spanish authorities are in contact with the African country to locate them and conduct relevant tests. Despite the situation, the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has indicated that the likelihood of this individual contracting the virus is "very low".
Concurrently, a second suspicious case has been identified in Alicante. This involves a woman who reported symptoms such as coughing and was seated two rows behind the infected person on the plane. She has been admitted to a local hospital for evaluation and will undergo a PCR test.

"It is quite unlikely that this woman could have been infected, because she was two rows behind the passenger who eventually died and the contact was brief, as the infected woman ultimately could not fly."

Javier Padilla · Secretary of State for Health
If the PCR test result is negative, she will be retested and transferred to Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid for preventive quarantine. Should she test positive, she would remain isolated in the Alicante hospital. As a precaution, close contacts of the suspicious case in Alicante are being identified.