French woman was told by doctors hantavirus symptoms were just anxiety

"The Spanish health minister has said. Javier Padilla told the Guardian the woman, who had been travelling on the ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, had been suffering flu-like symptoms but they appeared to be getting better and she did not have a fever. The World Health Organization later said the woman was in a very critical condition. Padilla's comments came as the MV Hondius left the dock in the Canary Island of Tenerife on Monday evening, after 120 people from 23 nations were repatriated over 48 hours in an operation described by Spanish authorities as complex and unprecedented."

"Despite the deaths of three people who had been on board the ship and eight other confirmed cases, doctors from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Spanish foreign health service assessed the French woman and dismissed her symptoms as anxiety or stress, Padilla said. They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus. Why? Because what she was telling [them] was [that she had] an episode of coughing some days ago that had disappeared, and what she was having at that moment was kind of like stress or anxiety or nervousness. So it was not cataloged [as hantavirus], Padilla said."

"Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, thanked Spain for coming to the aid of those on the vessel. He said the French passenger was now in a very critical situation. Imagine if she stayed longer in the ship, he said. He said there was nothing to fear for the people in the countries that received passengers, adding he hoped they would show compassion and your solidarity to your citizens. The French woman was one of fiv"

A French woman evacuated from a cruise ship tested positive for hantavirus after reporting flu-like symptoms to onboard doctors. The Spanish health minister said she did not have a fever and had been improving, and her symptoms were interpreted as stress or anxiety rather than hantavirus. He said doctors were not considering hantavirus because she described a past coughing episode that had disappeared and her current symptoms resembled nervousness. The World Health Organization later reported she was in a very critical condition. The ship departed Tenerife after repatriating 120 people from 23 nations, while about 30 crew and two health workers remained for Rotterdam. Three deaths and eight other confirmed cases were reported among those on board.

Read at www.theguardian.com