Samples from Italian man with suspected hantavirus sent to hospital: Report

Biological samples from a 25-year-old Italian man who was showing suspected hantavirus symptoms were sent to a hospital in Rome on Tuesday, according to the ANSA news agency.

Sources told the news outlet that the man was on board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam that briefly carried a woman who later died from the Hantavirus.

The report noted that the man was already in quarantine.

The hospital also reportedly denied earlier claims that the man himself would be transferred to the hospital for testing and medical examinations to determine whether he had contracted the virus.

The report comes amid ongoing concerns over a hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, where several infections and three deaths have been reported.

Hantavirus is a rare disease usually transmitted through infected rodents or their droppings, though the strain responsible for this outbreak, Andes virus, can also spread between humans with prolonged close contact, often in enclosed settings.