EU secures emergency deliveries of potential treatment against hantavirus

The first doses of an experimental antiviral for hantavirus treatment are being dispatched to France, Spain and the Netherlands, the European Commission said on Thursday.

In the absence of a specific treatment for hantavirus, the European Medicines Agency identified favipiravir as the most plausible candidate for use under clinical trial or compassionate use protocols, the Commission said in a statement.

FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical in Japan donated 1,400 tablets of favipiravir, which France, Spain and the Netherlands had requested.

The European Union is launching emergency procurement procedures to secure additional doses in case further hantavirus cases are confirmed in the coming weeks.

Thirteen people so far have tested positive for hantavirus linked to a cruise ship at the centre of the outbreak. They are being treated in the Netherlands, France and Spain, as well as Switzerland, the United States and South Africa.

Rodent-borne hantaviruses can cause illness. The WHO estimates as many as 100,000 human cases occur globally each year.

The virus can be deadly, though severity depends on the strain and it does not easily pass from person to person.

Three people have died since the start of the latest outbreak.

-Mathias de Rozario/Reuters