A BRIT tourist has been taken into quarantine in Italy after travelling on the same flight as a woman infected by the deadly rat virus.

British authorities flagged the possible infection and the man was located in Milan, the Health Ministry said.

Illustration Hantavirus, Napoli, Campania, Italy - 10 May 2026Three cruise passengers have already died from the deadly illness Credit: Shutterstock Editorial

A person who was travelling with has also been taken to hospital as a precaution.

The British tourist had traveled on a St. Helena Johannesburg flight which Mirjam Schilperoord, the wife of patient zero, was also travelling.

Schilperoord transferred to a KLM flight bound for the Netherlands but the crew decided she was too sick to fly and removed her.

She collapsed at the airport and died the next day.

Three cruise passengers have already so far, with two of them confirmed to have had the virus.

It comes after an in the twelfth potential case on Tuesday.

If positive the case would mark the first generation-three infection – when cruise passengers pass the disease onto the public.

Now are being flown to the UK to isolate.

The group, from the remote South Atlantic islands of St Helena and Ascension Island, had contact with people affected by the , officials said.

Some 30 cruise passengers disembarked the rat virus infected MV Hondius on St Helena after the first passenger had died of hantavirus.

They included seven Brits.

The passengers did not know they were contagious, and many flew home to “all corners of the world”, sparking a frantic effort to track them down.

The UK Health Security Agency said the group are already isolating and will continue to do so once they arrive in Britain.

Officials stressed none of the ten, who are all British nationals, are currently showing symptoms.

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