Hantavirus Patient Was Briefly On KLM Johannesburg Flight Before Take-off

2 min readMay 7, 2026 02:02 PM IST

A passenger, later diagnosed with hantavirus, was “briefly” on board a KLM flight from Johannesburg before being removed prior to take-off, said the airline on Wednesday (May 6).

“Due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time, the crew decided not to allow the passenger to travel on the flight” KL592 from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, scheduled to take off on April 25 at 11:15 pm local time, said the airline, according to news agency AFP.

“After the passenger was removed from the aircraft, the flight departed for the Netherlands,” it added.

Dutch health authorities are also reaching out to the other passengers aboard the flight “as a precaution,” KLM said in its statement.

Hantavirus reaches Europe after deadly cruise ship outbreak

A passenger, who recently disembarked from the MV Hondius, tested positive for a deadly strain of Hantavirus after arriving in Europe on Wednesday, raising concerns of a potential cross-border health scare, the New York Post reported.

The case drew wider attention because of the virus’ severity and the conditions in which it emerged, with experts warning that confined cruise ship environments can allow infections to spread rapidly before being detected.

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Aboard the cruise were 150 passengers, among whom three are dead, some are in critical condition, and the rest are in quarantine.

The MV Hondius is currently docked near Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa, with most passengers still under quarantine.

Three passengers have been medically evacuated to the Netherlands. The remaining passengers are expected to travel to the Canary Islands, where they will undergo medical screening before being transferred to their home countries.

What is Hantavirus?

Hantavirus is a rodent-borne illness. It spreads when people breathe in air contaminated by infected rodent droppings, urine, or saliva – not through casual human contact.

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What makes this outbreak alarming is the specific strain involved: the Andes orthohantavirus, found in South America, is the only strain in the world known to spread between humans, though that requires prolonged, close contact.

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