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Dutch airline KLM has seen one of its flight attendants taken to hospital after experiencing mild symptoms of the deadly hantavirus. This comes after the female flight attendant came into close contact with one of the infected MV Hondius cruise ship passengers who also later passed away. While the attendant has not been identified, Dutch news outlet RTL Nieuws confirmed that the female was hospitalized and isolated in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
The female attendant came into contact with an elderly Dutch passenger who was deemed to be unwell to fly, and who later collapsed at the airport and died. For the female attendant, once she came unwell, she was picked up from her home in Haarlem and taken to the hospital by medical crews as she was experiencing mild symptoms.
KLM Female Flight Attendant Taken To Hospital
For the attendant, she had been working on one of the airline’s long-haul services to and from Africa when she came into contact with the wife of the male passenger who had died on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The wife, who was feeling unwell, was making her way back to the Netherlands when she boarded the KLM flight, but was then deemed too unwell to fly.
The 69-year-old female was transferred from the ship to Johannesburg on April 25, around two weeks after her husband had died on board the cruise ship. She intended to head back to the Netherlands for further treatment before collapsing at the airport and also dying. After being on board the KLM flight for a short period, she was ultimately removed from the flight, as confirmed by KLM:
“Due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time, the crew decided not to allow the passenger to travel on the flight.”
Three people had died following the Hantavirus outbreak, including the Dutch couple and a German national. Additional sick people who have now been evacuated from the ship include a British ex-police officer. Countries around the world are now attempting to track and trace those who have now left the cruise ship before the outbreak was known.
The virus is transmitted by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, and human-to-human contagion is rare, requiring very close contact. Regardless, the outbreak has put national and international health authorities on high alert.
Following the incident, the Professor of Exposure and Risk Science at Harvard, Joseph Allen, took to X to explain that this is a renewed call for airlines to consider running onboard ventilation on the aircraft when planes are parked at the gate, as these moments expose passengers and crew to the highest risk of spreading germs. Onboard a flight, you are experiencing between ten and 20 air changes per hour; when on the ground, these are turned off.
British Airways Ordeal: Passengers Spend 13 Hours With Deceased Flier In Heated Galley
As the grieving family sat in shock, the deceased passenger was moved to the galley, where the heated floor only worsened the situation.
Gate-Based Ventilation Should Be Operational
Allen wrote as a member of the Lancet COVID-19 Pandemic commission, which highlighted the issue of the absence of gate-based ventilation and stressed that during periods of high risk or pandemics, if ventilation was operational, this could lower the risk of human-to-human transmission.
When planes are parked, ventilation is not always operational, heightening the likelihood of exposure. Compared to when operating, all this is a low risk as the mix of outdoor and recirculated air is passed through High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters and then returned to each row. Will this instance finally make airlines consider turning on ventilation when boarding and disembarking?
As concerns related to the Hantavirus outbreak continue to rise, a crew member now sits in isolation at a Dutch hospital after unexpectedly being at work when the transfer of the virus occurred onto the unsuspecting flight attendant. KLM, formally KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, is the national carrier of the Netherlands and one of the world’s oldest airlines.
