Forty-five people were placed in home quarantine in France after being identified as high-risk contacts of a teenager diagnosed with the Andes strain of hantavirus, French authorities reported on Monday.
The patient, a Franco-Argentine teenager, was on vacation with his family in France and Spain when he got ill.
He first went to Limoges University Hospital on July 23, but the PCR test result was not confirmed until Aug. 5.
During the two-week wait, the teenager traveled to Normandy and visited relatives. He was in Spain when the diagnosis was announced on Aug. 6.
France’s Health Ministry said at the time that he had been isolated with his family and no longer had symptoms.
High-risk contacts
The 45 high-risk contacts included relatives and healthcare workers who treated the teenager.
Ten staff members at Limoges University Hospital were also quarantined, while 250 people considered low-risk contacts, including train and plane passengers and SNCF crew members, were asked to monitor for symptoms.
France’s Director General of Health Didier Lepelletier said the diagnosis took time because the initial serology test was not sufficient to confirm the infection and the results had to be validated by the national reference center.
The Health Ministry said on Aug. 6 that the case was isolated and had no link to patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship, where cases of the Andes strain had been detected in May.
