The Hospital Clínic is monitoring a woman who traveled on the same KLM flight as one of the deceased victims of the hantavirus outbreak. The patient is isolated in a room prepared for droplet and contact precautions, although the first PCR test has come back negative and she is asymptomatic.
The tension of the episode lies in that contrast. While the case forces the activation of isolation, biosecurity teams, and hospital monitoring, José Muñoz, head of the International Health Service at the Clínic, maintains that the result known so far allows for reduced alarm because the woman "is well" and the initial negative is "very good news".
Clínic will repeat the PCR on Saturday after a first negative
Muñoz explained that the second test will be done on Saturday, one week after the first, to confirm the evolution of the case. Until then, the hospital maintains the surveillance protocol in a room conditioned for droplet and contact isolation, with healthcare personnel protected with biosafety equipment on each visit.
The second PCR is scheduled for Saturday.
The monitored woman occupied the same KLM flight on which one of the deceased from hantavirus, infected on a cruise ship, was traveling. That background has led to extreme clinical control despite the fact that, for now, there are no symptoms or a confirmed positive case in Barcelona.
"It is very good news" - José Muñoz, head of the International Health Service, Hospital Clínic
In parallel, another passenger on the same route, a woman from Alacant who was two rows behind the infected person, has also tested negative on the PCR. In her case, doctors have detected some symptoms and will repeat the test in the coming hours while she remains isolated.
Fourteen Spaniards complete 42 days of quarantine since May 6
Part of the health monitoring is also concentrated outside of Catalonia. Fourteen Spaniards traveling on the cruise ship, including five Catalans, disembarked on the coasts of Tenerife and were transferred to the Central Defense Hospital Gómez Ulla, in Madrid, to complete the quarantine.
The quarantine began to count on May 6.
The isolation period set for that group will be 42 days. The measure affects passengers who shared the journey with the cases detected after Sunday's disembarkation, when 94 people left the ship.
Among those 94 passengers, two have tested positive for hantavirus, a French woman and a US citizen. In addition, one of the fatalities had to disembark from the KLM flight related to the patient who is now being monitored at the Hospital Clínic.
The ship will continue its journey to the Netherlands, presumably late in the afternoon, with about thirty people on board.