Spanish government confirms new case of hantavirus

The Spanish government said Monday it has confirmed a new case of hantavirus connected to the cruise ship MV Hondius , which became the center of an outbreak that killed three people earlier this month.

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A Spanish national who has been in preventive quarantine at a hospital in Madrid tested positive for the virus, the Health Ministry said in a statement .

The new case involves a “close contact” of a person connected to the initial outbreak. The patient who tested positive has been under clinical surveillance and isolation at Gómez Ulla Hospital, according to the Health Ministry.

The patient’s positive case was detected during periodic testing of contacts of people associated with the outbreak. Following the positive test, the patient was transferred to the high-level isolation unit at Gómez Ulla Hospital and placed under specialized medical supervision, the statement continued.

Hantavirus is endemic in parts of South America but remains very rare among humans and has never before been recorded on a cruise ship. Global and U.S. health officials have consistently attempted to calm fears of a wider outbreak.

The Spanish Health Ministry said the latest recorded case does not change the risk to the general public, nor the epidemiological response measures in place, as the case involved someone already within its activated isolation system.

The incubation period for hantavirus is up to six weeks. There have been no new deaths since May 2, when the outbreak was first reported to the World Health Organization.

Twenty crew members and two medical staff members disembarked from the cruise ship in the Netherlands last week, Oceanwide Expeditions said. The cruise ship ’s arrival ended its seven-week, 8,500-mile journey that was hit by up to 11 infections and three deaths from the rare disease.

Most passengers, including 18 Americans, are under quarantine in their home countries .