Hantavirus ‘zero’ patient named as official reveals where couple really caught rat disease

Patient zero of the outbreak has been identified.

Leo Schilperood died of hantavirus (Image: Facebook)

Patient zero of the hantavirus outbreak has been identified, and the location where he contracted the rat-borne disease has been revealed.

A Dutch birdwatcher who visited a landfill site described as the “end of the world” has been identified as patient zero on board the MV Hondius cruise ship. Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, boarded the MV Hondius with his wife after making a fateful visit to the rubbish tip in Argentina. Leo was the first passenger to lose his life to the virus while on board the vessel. His wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, disembarked the ship with his body but tragically died while attempting to board a flight to the Netherlands from South Africa.

Hantavirus broke out on the MV Hondius (Image: Getty)

The couple, from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands, were named in obituaries published in their local monthly village magazine, The Sun reports. Prior to boarding the MV Hondius, Leo and Mirjam had been on a five-month trip across South America. On March 27, they visited a landfill site four miles outside the city of Ushuaia.

The rubbish tip on the outskirts of the town is home to rare species of Patagonian birds, including the White-bellied Seedsnipe. The site, dubbed “the end of the world” and avoided by locals, is a popular destination for birdwatching tourists.

Argentine authorities believe the Dutch couple contracted the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus at the site, likely through exposure to infected rodents at the rubbish dump.

On April 1, the couple set sail on the MV Hondius from Ushuaia, alongside 112 other passengers. By April 6, Leo reported suffering from a fever, headache, stomach pain and diarrhoea.

He passed away on the ship five days later, with his body remaining on board until April 24, when the ship docked in St Helena.

Mirjam travelled with his body to South Africa, but she also started to become unwell. Her health subsequently worsened as she got ready to catch a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam.

She briefly got on board but was denied clearance to travel and was instead rushed to a hospital in South Africa, where she passed away a day later on April 26. A third person from the ship, a German passenger, has also died.

“Like birds in flight,” read one of the obituaries published in Dutch in the April edition of the Haulerwijk magazine. “We will miss you and the stories.”

The tally of hantavirus cases connected to the outbreak on MV Hondius has climbed to six, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Saturday. Of these, three British citizens have confirmed cases.