Major airline gives statement about passenger with deadly new virus in South Africa
Airlink said it provided South Africa’s Department of Health with the passenger manifest of flight 4Z 132, which carried a person believed to have been infected with a rare strain of Hantavirus.
The passenger succumbed to illness shortly after arriving in Johannesburg. Airlink told MyBroadband that it is actively contacting the other passengers who were aboard the flight.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on passengers aboard the 25 April flight from St Helena to Johannesburg to contact local health authorities immediately.
Airlink said it was not aware that an infected passenger was aboard and was only informed by the health department a week after the flight took place.
Local public health authorities and the WHO said they were responding to several cases of Hantavirus among passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise liner.
Three people who were aboard the cruise are confirmed to have died, and two others are in urgent medical care for symptoms believed to be related to the fatal disease.
The passenger who passed away in Johannesburg, a 69-year-old woman, disembarked the cruise ship at St Helena and intended to fly back to the Netherlands after a stopover in Johannesburg.
She was reportedly the widow of a 70-year-old man who passed away from the illness while still aboard the cruise ship.
“In accordance with health protocols, Airlink provided the Department of Health with the passenger manifest for contact tracing,” Airlink said.
“The manifest included the names, contact details and seating allocation of the passengers and crew.”
Airlink said it operates in strict compliance with all public health and aviation regulations and requirements issued by the department and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
Following the 25 April flight, the Airlink Embraer jet involved was taken to the company’s hangar and cleaned as part of its normal routine.
It was then returned to active service the following morning, before Airlink was alerted that the aircraft contained a passenger believed to be infected with the disease.
HEPA filters aboard aircraft to slow infection
According to FlightRadar24 data, flight 4Z132 was operated by an Embraer E190AR aircraft, and the total flight time was 4 hours and 10 minutes.
Airlink said that this particular type of jet was equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, which it said were similar to those used in hospital operating theatres.
“These filters continually ‘scrub’ clean the cabin air, which is constantly renewed throughout a flight,” Airlink said.
A BCMJ literature review from 2023 stated that HEPA filtration is beneficial for reducing bioaerosols, including SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens, in the hospital environment.
“A systematic review conducted in 2021 identified 11 studies on the effectiveness of portable HEPA filters for eliminating airborne SARS-CoV-2,” it read.
“A HEPA filter filters 99.97% of aerosols with a size of 0.15 μm, with even greater efficiency for other particle sizes (larger and smaller). SARS-CoV-2 is thought to be around 0.1 μm.”
According to an announcement from the WHO, this particular strain of Hantavirus is also known as “Andes virus” and is endemic to South America.
This strain first infected humans through contact with the urine, faeces, or saliva of rats that carried the virus. Although uncommon, human-to-human transmission has been reported with this strain.
Infections were characterised by “fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock,” it said.
The organisation assessed the current risk to the global population posed by the ongoing situation as “low,” but said it will continue monitoring and update the risk assessment as necessary.
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