The hantavirus outbreak has refocused pandemic risks in the Netherlands, with hospitals joining efforts to turn early research into vaccines and treatments
Five of the Netherlands’ leading university medical centres joined forces to launch a €7 million programme aimed at accelerating the development of infectious disease vaccines and therapies.
Groningen’s UMCG hospital said the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship demonstrates the importance of working on innovative solutions for infectious diseases and strengthening pandemic preparedness in the Netherlands.
“We used this ‘small’ outbreak to connect to reality on virus outbreaks in the world, to provide some awareness in the population that this happens often,” UMCG Professor of Immunology of Vaccinations Debbie van Baarle told Euractiv.
She said that all lessons learned from previous outbreaks were applied in the hantavirus case. Potentially infected people were isolated where possible, and rapid contact tracing was performed to find other people who may have been infected.
