May 28 (Reuters) - 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 Pharmaceuticals 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.
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk; Editing by Makini Brice and Barbara Lewis)
