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Dutch birdwatcher Leo Schilperoord, 70, was the first passenger to die from hantavirus on board the MV Hondius cruise ship, and his wife Mirjam also died after contracting the deadly virus
A Dutch birdwatcher who visited a landfill site described as the 'end of the world' has been identified as patient zero in the deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with his wife following a fateful trip to the rubbish tip in Argentina. Leo became the first passenger to lose his life to the virus while on board the vessel. His wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, left the ship with his body but tragically passed away while attempting to catch a flight to the Netherlands from South Africa.
The couple, from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands, were named in obituaries published in their local monthly village magazine, the Sun reports. Before boarding the MV Hondius, Leo and Mirjam had been on a five-month journey across South America. On 27th March, they visited a landfill site four miles outside the city of Ushuaia, reports the Mirror .
The sprawling rubbish tip on the outskirts of the town is home to rare species of Patagonian birds, including the White-bellied Seedsnipe. The site, dubbed 'the end of the world' and avoided by locals, is a well-known destination for birdwatching tourists. Argentinian authorities believe the Dutch couple contracted the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus at the site, most likely through contact with infected rodents at the rubbish dump.
Four days later, on April 1, the couple set sail on the MV Hondius from Ushuaia, joined by 112 fellow passengers. By April 6, Leo was reportedly suffering from a fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea. He passed away on the ship five days later, with his body remaining on board until 24th April when the vessel docked in St Helena. Mirjam accompanied his body to South Africa, but she too began to fall ill.
Her condition deteriorated further as she prepared to board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam. She briefly boarded the aircraft but was refused permission to travel and was rushed to hospital in South Africa, where she died a day later on April 26. A third passenger from the ship, a German national, has also lost their life.
'Like birds in flight,' read one of the obituaries published in Dutch in the April edition of the Haulerwijk magazine. 'We will miss you and the stories. ' The number of hantavirus cases linked to the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius has risen to six, the World Health Organisation confirmed on Saturday. Of those affected, three are British nationals with confirmed cases.
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