'Patient Zero' in deadly hantavirus cruise ship outbreak was Dutch ornithologist Leo Schilperoord

[question everything]

Source: NY Post

Patient Zero in the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak has been identified as ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, whose passion for birds may have cost him his life.

The 70-year-old man and his wife, Mirjam Schilperoord, 69, were on a five-month trip to South America. They first landed in Argentina on Nov. 27, and traveling through Chile, Uruguay and then back to Argentina in late March, where they went on a fateful birdwatching adventure.

The couple — from Haulerwijk, a small village of 3,000 people in the Netherlands — were identified in obituaries published in their monthly village magazine. When the Schilperoords returned to Argentina on March 27, they visited a landfill four miles outside the city of Ushuaia.

The spot, overrun with trash, is avoided like the plague by its residents, but serves as a pilgrimage point for birdwatchers from all over the world in search of a rare creature — the white-throated caracara, nicknamed Darwin’s caracara after famed evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, the first to collect it.


Read more: https://nypost.com/2026/05/09/world-news/hantavirus-patient-zero-was-dutch-ornithologist-leo-schilperoord/

[eggplant]

1. "is avoided like the plague"

as it were.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Unsparingly chosen language, to be sure. nt

[BigMin28]

6. Pay attention

to the locals is always good advice.

[Prairie Gates]

8. The editor had a chuckle, great fun was had by all

[IronLionZion]

2. "is avoided like the plague by its residents"

Might be a good idea to mask up if going birdwatching in such places.

[70sEraVet]

3. A shame that such a beautful, harmless hobby resulted in their deaths.

I hope for the best for the rest of the passengers. I understand that the survival rate is rather dismal.

[Conjuay]

10. I don't think jet-setting around the world just to see this bird or that is such a 'harmless' hobby

The carbon footprint these people leave is ridiculous.
Read Christian Cooper's book if you don't believe me.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. Wasn't he an actual bird scientist??

I guess we could say he died doing what he loved and did it for his entire life as a professional contribution to humanity and the natural world, couldn't we?

We certainly don't have to worry about him expanding his carbon footprint now, do we?

[Conjuay]

15. my point remains.

Of all the polluting forms forms of transport, cruise ships are probably the worse.

But hey, at least Hunan China won't get blamed for this one.

[BidenRocks]

5. Wasn't 60 Minutes and Anderson Cooper birdwatching?

[Cheezoholic]

7. You'd think a free 40 billion from a Magalomaniac would help clean that up. Wait, their leader is a Magalomaniac n/t

[JI7]

9. Did they put on any protective gesr ? Would it have helped ?

[Skittles]

12. there goes Trump's MADE IN CHINA bit

[popsdenver]

13. How about

Dumps=Rats=Hantivirus...........

[Danascot]

14. Answers to questions I had

about how people get hantavirus and how it is transmitted between people

People usually get hantavirus from contact with rodents in areas where the disease is present, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva.

The Andes virus, found only in South America, is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. This spread is usually limited to people who have close contact with the ill person. This includes direct physical contact, prolonged time spent in close or enclosed spaces, and exposure to the sick person's body fluids.

https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/situation-summary/index.html