Medic with hantavirus symptoms treated at London hospital after nine Britons exposed to disease arrive in UK

A medic who developed hantavirus symptoms after returning from a remote British overseas territory is being treated in a London hospital.

Nine other Britons connected with the MV Hondius ship outbreak were also expected to arrive in the UK on Sunday evening.

The nine people, who arrived from St Helena and Ascension Island, both British overseas territories, may have been exposed to hantavirus but are not currently experiencing symptoms.

The UK Health Security Agency confirmed that the Britons were expected to arrive last night.

The medic is being cared for at the High Consequence Infectious Diseases unit in Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust and has been there since Saturday.

The group will be transported to Arrowe Park Hospital in the Wirral, where they will complete their self-isolation, supported by the HCID network, should they become unwell.

The Andes strain of the virus has so far killed three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, following its outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The virus, which is usually spread by rodents, can be transmitted between people in rate situations.

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