Spain tests suspected hantavirus case in Alicante

A 32-year-old woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante is showing symptoms consistent with hantavirus infection and is currently being tested, Spanish health officials said.

The woman was a passenger on the same flight as a patient who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the MV Hondius cruise ship and contracting hantavirus, Health Secretary Javier Padilla told reporters.

Authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus on the ship, which can be transmitted from person to person in rare cases, usually only after close contact.

The woman has "mild respiratory symptoms" and will be transferred to a hospital in the city of Alicante, where she will be tested for the virus, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours, the regional health department said in a statement.

Padilla said the woman, a resident of Alicante in the Valencia region, was sitting two rows behind the cruise ship passenger, but that contact between them "was brief" because the passenger was "only on board for a short time" during the flight.

Padilla added that Valencia regional authorities are tracing people the woman has been in contact with over the past few days.