A Dutch birdwatcher who visited a landfill site described as the 'end of the world' has been identified as patient zero in the deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with his wife following a fateful trip to the rubbish tip in Argentina. Leo became the first passenger to die from the virus while on board the vessel.
Details of the outbreak
His wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, left the ship with his body but tragically passed away while attempting to catch a flight back to the Netherlands from South Africa. The couple, from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands, were named in obituaries published in their local monthly village magazine, the Sun reports.
Before boarding the MV Hondius, Leo and Mirjam had been on a five-month journey across South America. On 27th March, they visited a landfill site four miles outside the city of Ushuaia, reports the Mirror. The sprawling rubbish tip on the outskirts of the town is home to rare species of Patagonian birds, including the White-bellied Seedsnipe. The site, dubbed 'the end of the world' and avoided by locals, is a well-known destination amongst birdwatching tourists.
How the virus spread
Argentinian authorities believe the Dutch couple contracted the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus at the site, most likely through contact with infected rodents at the rubbish dump. Four days later, on April 1, the couple departed on the MV Hondius from Ushuaia, along with 112 fellow passengers. By April 6, Leo reported experiencing a fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea. He passed away on the vessel five days later, with his body remaining on board until April 24 when the ship docked in St Helena.
Mirjam accompanied his body to South Africa, but she too began to feel unwell. Her condition deteriorated further as she prepared to board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam. She briefly boarded the aircraft but was refused permission to travel and was instead rushed to hospital in South Africa, where she died a day later on April 26. A third person from the vessel, a German passenger, has also lost their life.
Community reaction
'Like birds in flight,' read one of the obituaries published in Dutch in the April edition of the Haulerwijk magazine. 'We will miss you and the stories.' The number of hantavirus cases linked to the outbreak on MV Hondius has risen to six, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed on Saturday. Of these, three British citizens have confirmed cases.
