US flight attendants’ union urges screening for Hantavirus
Following a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak and a KLM flight attendant's scare, the largest US flight attendant union urges American airlines to screen passengers for symptoms and offer penalty-free rebooking
ATT Desk Report
The largest US flight attendant union called on American airlines to screen passengers for hantavirus symptoms and offer penalty-free rebooking after a KLM cabin crew member was hospitalised following contact with an infected passenger, reports AOL.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents workers at American Airlines, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines and dozens of others, said carriers should ask passengers before travel whether they have had contact with rodents or symptomatic people within the previous 45 days.
“If a passenger answers in the affirmative, they should not be boarded,” the union said, adding that airlines should provide N95 masks to staff and any passenger who becomes unwell during a flight.
The push follows an outbreak of the Andes hantavirus strain aboard the Dutch‑flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which left Argentina on 1 April bound for Cape Verde. The World Health Organization has linked 11 suspected cases to the vessel, including three fatalities. On 25 April, a 69‑year‑old Dutch woman infected aboard the ship attempted to board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam but was removed before takeoff after appearing visibly ill. She died the following day.
A KLM flight attendant who had close contact with the woman developed mild symptoms and was hospitalised in Amsterdam but later tested negative for the virus, the WHO confirmed on 8 May.
The Dutch woman’s case also forced South African carrier Airlink to trace passengers after it became known that she had travelled from Saint Helena to Johannesburg on an Airlink flight on 25 April. The airline has sent its crew home and is deep‑cleaning its aircraft daily“out of an abundance of caution”.
Although the cruise ship has now docked in Tenerife, Canary Islands, where passengers are being disembarked in a multinational operation, the WHO recommends a strict 42‑day quarantine for all passengers and close contacts. One Spanish passenger quarantined in Madrid has developed mild symptoms after a preliminary positive test.
Medical experts say the risk of transmission aboard commercial flights remains extremely low. The CDC notes that although the Andes virus is the only hantavirus strain capable of limited human‑to‑human spread, it is “very difficult to transmit” and requires prolonged close contact with an infectious person. “People are not thought to be infectious until they start to feel unwell, and the probability of encountering such a case on a flight is vanishingly small,” a CDC official said.
