Dutch hospital quarantines 12 staff over Hantavirus exposure precautions

Radboud University Medical Center Radboudumc in the Netherlands has placed 12 employees in quarantine for six weeks as a precaution after incorrect procedures were followed while caring for a patient infected with hantavirusThe hospital said on Monday that the issue involved procedures for drawing and processing blood samples as well as the disposal of the patients urine reports Xinhua news agencyThis blood was processed according to standard procedure Due to the nature of the virus this blood should have been processed according to a stricter procedure Radboudumc said in a statement without specifying what the stricter measures should have entailedThe hospital added that it became clear on Saturday that the latest international guidelines for disposing of the patients urine had not been followedAs a result 12 employees have entered preventive quarantine for six weeks Although the risk of actual infection is very low these measures have a significant impact on everyone involved said Bertine Lahuis chair of the Executive Board of RadboudumcOn Thursday Radboudumc admitted a hantavirusinfected patient from the Dutch cruise ship MV HondiusMeanwhile Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia on Monday announced that one of the 14 Spanish evacuees from the hantavirushit cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday has tested preliminarily positive for the virusGarcia wrote on X that one of the Spanish passengers currently under isolation at Madrids Gomez Ulla hospital had tested preliminarily positive in a PCR test conducted upon arrivalThe person remains in isolation without symptoms and in general good health under continued clinical observation in accordance with established safety and epidemiological protocols she wroteThe other 13 Spaniards tested provisionally negative while final results were expected in the coming hours the minister saidAccording to health authorities and the World Health Organization WHO the outbreak is believed to involve the Andes strain of hantavirus a variant known for possible persontoperson transmission through close contact The virus is typically transmitted through exposure to infected rodent urine or droppingsThe Spanish evacuees were transferred to Madrid as part of an evacuation operation launched after the MV Hondius arrived in Spains Canary Islands over the weekend reports Xinhua news agencyMultiple confirmed and suspected cases have so far been linked to the outbreak including passengers transferred to several countries for treatment and monitoringThe final group of evacuees left the ship on Monday after the vessel briefly docked at the Port of Granadilla on the Spanish island of Tenerife due to adverse weather conditions The ship later departed for Rotterdam in the NetherlandsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever