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‘Patient Zero’ in deadly hantavirus cruise ship outbreak was Dutch ornithologist Leo Schilperoord
NY Post ^ | 05/09/2026 | Gabrielle Fahmy

Posted on 05/09/2026 5:57:56 AM PDT by DFG

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.

They co-authored a study on pink-footed geese in the Dutch ornithological magazine Het Vogeljaar in 1984 and went on adventures across the world, including an “unforgettable” private 12-day birdwatching and wildlife tour in Sri Lanka in 2013 — where the couple raved about spotting a rare Serendib Scops Owl.

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.

The Ushuaia landfill is where Argentinian authorities suspect the Dutch couple inhaled particles from the feces of long-tailed pygmy rice rats, which carry the feared Andes strain of the hantavirus — the only form known to transmit from human to human.

“It is common for birdwatchers to visit landfills because there are many birds there,” Gastón Bretti, a photographer and local guide told Ansa Latina.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 1995; abrothrixlongipilis; airtransmission; andes; andeshantavirus; andesvirus; andv; argentina; birdwatchers; birdwatching; caracara; cruiseship; darwinscaracara; disease; dump; fifa; figures; hantavirus; hantavirusa; hps; inhalation; landfill; leoschilperoord; mirjamschilperoord; netherlands; ornithologist; ornithology; patientzero; plagueship; pygmyricerats; ratpoop; rats; rivers; rodents; schilperoord; trashdump; ushuaia; whitethroated; worldcup
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To: Texas resident

You left out the “Dr. Fauci lies” step


21 posted on 05/09/2026 7:24:56 AM PDT by bigbob (We are all Charlie Kirk now)
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To: DFG

Treehuggers.

HVirus is common across the world. Every year or so a neighbor here in CaCaLand comes down with it. The only folks making a big deal about this are the arseholes like that terrorist heading up WHO — for $$.


22 posted on 05/09/2026 7:37:28 AM PDT by bobbo666
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To: DFG

23 posted on 05/09/2026 7:42:42 AM PDT by TexasGator (1I-..)
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To: DFG

> visited a landfill

Well it’s probably safer than Fauci’s labs.


24 posted on 05/09/2026 7:44:43 AM PDT by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: DFG

There is already and mRNA fake vax for this virus. This is why they are starting up this mass scare. Everyone is going to die unless people are forced to take the shot.

Can I prove it? Maybe, but all I really need to do is look at the similarities to their scam with covid.

More destruction of economies and more tyranny on the people has to happen for The NWO to usher in.


25 posted on 05/09/2026 7:46:04 AM PDT by dforest
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To: dforest

The hantavirus is deadly, but it’s not the thing pandemics are made of.

It takes physical contact with the host. Its symptoms appear rather quickly and it kills the host rather quickly.

No masks, six feet distancing, or mail in ballots are needed to stop it.

EC


26 posted on 05/09/2026 7:56:20 AM PDT by Ex-Con777 ("Journalism is about covering important stories-with a pillow, until they stop moving." ~ David Burg)
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To: BradyLS

This is a totally different type of hantavirus.
The kind we have in the US rodent population is not communicable person-to-person.


27 posted on 05/09/2026 7:56:43 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: PA Presbyterian

The disease is not carried by this bird.

It is from rats and their fecal matter.


28 posted on 05/09/2026 7:58:12 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: TexasGator

What a lovely place to take the wife. We are liberal American scientist exploring the world!

Feeding frenzies should not be counted as legitimate bird sightings for the National Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy, or the American Birding Association. Just like feeding the deer all year round then walking up one day and blasting the biggest one you can find.


29 posted on 05/09/2026 7:59:34 AM PDT by Delta 21 (None of us are descendants of fearful men!)
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To: bobbo666

This is not the same hantavirus as is common in the American southwest.


30 posted on 05/09/2026 7:59:34 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: Ex-Con777

Does this include hanta that has been weaponized and created to be airborne transmission between humans?

I wouldn’t take their fake vaxes anyway. I didn’t take the last poison they jabbed into people.


31 posted on 05/09/2026 8:02:32 AM PDT by dforest
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To: Ex-Con777

32 posted on 05/09/2026 8:03:34 AM PDT by Delta 21 (None of us are descendants of fearful men!)
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To: TexasGator

I was in Ushuaia three years ago. Never once crossed my mind to visit their landfill. But then I am not an ornithologist and the landfill is supposedly as popular place for birdwatching (those who can stomach the smell).


33 posted on 05/09/2026 8:04:28 AM PDT by libh8er
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To: Texas resident
Add in:

Everyone is at risk!

Right before the vaccine is rolled out - and mandated.

34 posted on 05/09/2026 8:07:18 AM PDT by Bon of Babble (You Say You Want a Revolution?)
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To: DFG

Hope they at least got to add the bird to their life list.


35 posted on 05/09/2026 8:09:18 AM PDT by parmamenian (an)
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To: PA Presbyterian

“”If this story is correct, it explains the difference between this virus and the one that killed Hackman’s wife and why this virus is causing concern: It is the “feared Andes strain of the hantavirus — the only form known to transmit from human to human.””

TRUE and the clause overlooked by those commenting here...


36 posted on 05/09/2026 8:10:42 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: libh8er

Never made it that far.

Southern Peru. Rio.


37 posted on 05/09/2026 8:12:52 AM PDT by TexasGator (1I-..)
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To: dforest

“”This is why they are starting up this mass scare.””

The only place that is happening is here on FR....


38 posted on 05/09/2026 8:13:08 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: DFG

Wasn’t it incredibly careless of the cruise company to just release passengers to travel with no waiting period or quarantine to determine the illness


39 posted on 05/09/2026 8:21:33 AM PDT by silverleaf (“Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out” —David Horowitz)
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To: rlmorel

Just in time for the Mid Terms.


40 posted on 05/09/2026 8:32:50 AM PDT by MMusson ( )
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