France Quarantines Forty-Five Contacts After Hantavirus Case

(MENAFN) France places 45 people under home quarantine after identifying them as high-risk contacts of a teenager diagnosed with the Andes strain of hantavirus.

The patient, a Franco-Argentine teenager, becomes ill while traveling with his family in France and Spain. He initially seeks medical care at Limoges University Hospital on July 23, but confirmation of the infection does not come until Aug. 5.

During the two-week period before the diagnosis is confirmed, the teenager travels to Normandy and visits relatives. He is in Spain when the diagnosis is officially announced on Aug. 6.

France’s Health Ministry says the teenager is isolated together with his family and is no longer experiencing symptoms.

The 45 people classified as high-risk contacts include relatives and healthcare workers who were involved in his treatment. Ten employees at Limoges University Hospital are also placed under quarantine.

Meanwhile, around 250 people considered to have had lower-risk exposure, including train and aircraft passengers as well as SNCF staff members, are instructed to monitor themselves for possible symptoms.

France’s Director General of Health Didier Lepelletier explains that confirming the infection takes time because the initial serology test cannot establish the diagnosis on its own. The results therefore require additional validation by the national reference center.

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