Sick holidaymakers ‘could have deadly virus’
Chiefs of the Tropical Medical Bureau said countries as diverse as Chile, the Ivory Coast, India, and Paraguay had all seen outbreaks of hantarivus in the past five months — a rare lung disease for which there is no cure.
Symptoms for the virus, which is carried in rodent faeces, urine, and saliva, are similar to those in common flus and include headaches, fevers, shortness of breath, muscle aches, and coughs.
However, experts at the medical bureau warned that symptoms can appear six weeks after exposure, meaning holidaymakers might have returned home to Ireland and dismissed their condition as nothing more than the common flu.
The warnings come after it emerged that two people have died — with thousands more are at risk — from an outbreak of the deadly virus in California’s Yosemite National Park.
Dr Graham Fry, of the Tropical Medical Bureau, said: “I would urge anyone who has travelled to a country where there has been an outbreak of hantavirus over the past five months and who has experienced symptoms to seek medical advice immediately.
“The same goes for other rare diseases, such as rabies. If people are feeling unwell, having been over to a foreign country, they need to be aware that their ill health might be linked to their travel history.”
Meanwhile, camp officials in Yosemite National Park are in the process of contacting the 10,000 mos-tly US citizens who they fear might be in danger of contracting hantavirus.
Although four other holidaymakers have survived, the deadly virus kills nearly four out of 10 people who become infected.
The outbreak of the virus is believed to have been caused by mice nesting in the insulation of tents at a campsite in the Curry Village area of the reserve.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the thousands of holidaymakers who stayed at the campsite between June and August were at risk.
Last week park officials shut down 91 insulated tent cabins after discovering deer mice, which carry the virus, nesting between the double walls of the luxury tents.
