Urgent call to travelers as Hantavirus tracing begins with 69 possible contacts
The World Health Organization is calling on passengers aboard a South Africa flight to contact health authorities following the death of a Dutch woman from Hantavirus
The World Health Organization is calling on passengers aboard a South Africa flight to contact health authorities following the death of a Dutch woman from Hantavirus(Image: AP)
The World Health Organization is calling on passengers aboard a South African flight to contact health authorities following the death of a Dutch woman from Hantavirus.
The woman had left the cruise ship Hondius in St. Helena and taken an Airlink flight to Johannesburg after falling ill. According to the WHO, her condition deteriorated during the flight.
She was quickly taken to a hospital in Johannesburg upon landing, where she tested positive for Hantavirus. Her husband had died earlier on the ship from the same virus. The woman's name was not publicly revealed.
During a news briefing, a WHO doctor, Marie Roseline Belizaire, said at least 69 people could have come in contact with the woman carrying the virus. Tracing efforts are now underway in Europe and Africa, as well as on St. Helena, following the arrival of sick passengers from the cruise ship.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed hantavirus cases from cruise ship has risen to 5, including 2 passengers evacuated Wednesday. The ship, which remains at the center of the deadly outbreak, remained off Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board waiting to head to Spain's Canary Islands.
During a news briefing, a WHO doctor, Marie Roseline Belizaire, said at least 69 people could have come in contact with the woman carrying the virus(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, according to the WHO. Eight cases have been recorded in total, three of which have been confirmed by laboratory testing.
Hantavirus is a rare, rodent-borne illness that usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings.
Two unnamed Argentine officials with knowledge of the matter said the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak's origins, and their leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus while bird-watching in Ushuaia before boarding. The officials were granted anonymity because they were not yet authorized to speak to the media.
They said the couple visited a landfill during the tour and may have been exposed to rodents. Interestingly, authorities have previously said Ushuaia and the surrounding Tierra del Fuego province had never recorded a hantavirus case.
Samples of the virus taken by WHO officials confirmed to be the Andes strain of hantavirus. The organization says this strain is found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile, and can spread between people, though that is rare and only through close contact.
Hantavirus is a rare, rodent-borne illness that usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Remaining passengers to be evacuated to Canary Islands
It was confirmed on Wednesday that the remaining passengers of the Hondius vessel would be evacuated to Spain's Canary Islands, an announcement that took the regional president by surprise. The ship is expected to arrive on May 9.
Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the island, said he was surprised that the passengers were being forced to "travel for three days" rather than fly home from the airport in Praia.
He also complained that central authorities in Madrid had not informed him of the details of the circumstances on board the vessel, a situation that limited local health officials' ability to prepare for its arrival.
"We still don't know the status of all the passengers," he said. "There is no protocol for this."
Despite his concerns, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said the arrival of the boat "won't represent any risk for the public."
It was confirmed on Wednesday that the remaining passengers of the Hondius vessel would be evacuated to Spain's Canary Islands(Image: AP)
She said that the boat will arrive at a secondary port on the island of Tenerife, which is located 10 minutes from the airport. From there, the roughly 140 passengers will be repatriated to their home countries.
The operation to send the passengers and crew home will be overseen by the European Union's civil protection program. 14 Spaniards aboard the ship will be flown to the mainland by military planes, and if necessary, they will be kept in quarantine.
Is hantavirus the next Covid?
According to the Associated Press, the public risk following the hantavirus outbreak is low, and the Andes variant is known, even if the WHO has never seen a hantavirus outbreak on a ship.
“This is not the next Covid, but it is a serious infectious disease,” epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said. “Most people will never be exposed to this.”
However, for those on the ship, access to clinical care is important because infected people can develop severe acute respiratory distress and need oxygen or mechanical ventilation. The hantavirus incubation period is one to six weeks.
My Husband Slapped Me Twice in His Jewelry Store—Then I Discovered He'd Forged My Signature to Steal My Mother's Company
My husband slapped me twice in his luxury jewelry store while his mistress smiled. I left my wedding ring on the counter and warned him about his shares. But he had no idea I'd discovered a forged document giving him control of my inheritance. With my twenty-ninth birthday approaching, he was preparing to sell my mother's beloved workshop. Then an old photograph arrived from Vermont. The man in it was my father—the man I'd buried seventeen years earlier. And my husband already knew he was alive.
PART 1.
Nathan's hand connected with my face before I could finish saying his name.
The first slap sent my head turning toward a glass display filled with emerald necklaces.
The second knocked me backward against the counter, and I lost my balance, landing hard on the polished marble floor of his Madison Avenue jewelry store.
For a moment, all I could hear was the soft music playing through the ceiling speakers.
Nathan stood over me, breathing heavily.
Celeste Rowan watched from beside a brightly illuminated jewelry case, wearing a champagne-colored silk dress and a smile that made my stomach turn.
She didn't move to help me.
"Why are you here?" Nathan demanded.
"Are you following me now? You can't just show up and cause a scene."
I touched my cheek.
Blood filled my mouth where my teeth had cut the inside of it.
Near the entrance, an employee stopped arranging a tray of jewelry.
Another worker looked down at the floor.
Nobody said anything.
Four years earlier, Nathan had slipped a diamond ring onto my finger and promised that we would build something beautiful together.
Now he had struck me in front of the woman he'd been sleeping with for six months.
I pushed myself upright.
"I came to give you something back."
My fingers trembled as I removed my wedding ring.
I placed it carefully on the glass counter.
Celeste's smile widened.
"I guess she finally understands," she murmured.
I ignored her.
"My lawyer will be claiming half your shares by tomorrow," I told Nathan.
His expression changed.
The anger disappeared so quickly that it almost frightened me.
"Emma, wait."
I turned toward the entrance.
"Emma, you don't understand what you're doing."
"That's funny," I said quietly.
"Because for the first time in four years, I think I do."
He followed me halfway across the showroom.
"Don't make this ugly."
I looked back at the woman standing beside him.
"You already did."
Outside, I climbed into a cab and photographed my swelling cheek before calling Maya Ortiz.
Maya had been my attorney for only eight days.
In those eight days, she'd uncovered enough irregularities in my mother's company records to make me question almost everything I believed about my marriage.
"Did you go to the store?" she asked.
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Nathan hit me. Twice."
She went silent.
Then her voice sharpened.
"Are you safe?"
"I'm in a cab."
"Go directly to urgent care. I'll meet you there. And Emma?"
"Yes?"
"Don't speak to him again."
I stared through the window at the traffic moving along Madison Avenue.
"I need you to preserve the security footage," I said.
"We will."
"And I need that shareholder meeting stopped."
Maya exhaled.
"We're working on it."
The meeting was scheduled for Friday.
My twenty-ninth birthday.
It was also the day a document bearing my forged signature supposedly transferred the voting rights attached to my forty-two percent ownership interest in Vale Atelier to Nathan.
My mother, Louise Vale, had spent thirty years building the workshop.
Nathan intended to sell it.
And unless we could prove the document was fraudulent, he might have enough voting power to make that happen.
The signature looked convincing.
The notary stamp appeared legitimate.
But I had been in Portland, Oregon, with my aunt on the day I supposedly signed it.
I had never authorized Nathan to vote my shares.
That evening, after a doctor examined my injuries and I gave a statement to the police, my phone vibrated.
The message came from Ruth Miller, my mother's retired bookkeeper.
There was a photograph attached.
A gray-haired man stood outside a small repair shop in Vermont.
He held a jeweler's loupe against one eye.
His faded green field jacket looked painfully familiar.
So did the pale scar running across his left thumb.
I enlarged the photograph.
My breath stopped.
I had seen that face in framed photographs, birthday albums, and dreams for seventeen years.
Martin Vale.
My father.
The man whose empty coffin I had watched disappear into the ground when I was twelve.
Below the photograph, Ruth had written:
Emma, I think you deserve the truth.
Then another message arrived.
Please don't tell Nathan I've contacted you. I believe he's already found your father.
Full story in the first comment.
#Betrayal #MarriageDrama #FamilySecrets #ForgedSignature #HiddenFather #JewelryWorkshop #LegalDrama #EmotionalRevenge
