The inhabitants of remote Tristan da Cunha are awaiting urgent medical supplies after succumbing to an unspecified acute virus outbreak which has caused "severe breathing problems" in many of the island's 275 citizens.

According to the BBC, the UK's Falmouth Coastguard is coordinating an international operation to get the required medication to the "world's most isolated settlement", which lies some 2,800km to the west of Cape Town, out in the South Atlantic

The island, a British dependency, is normally paid the occasional visit by South Africa's polar research vessel the SA Agulhas, while fishing vessels the MV Edinburgh and MV Kelso make more regular trips from South Africa, sometimes on dedicated cargo and passenger runs. However, although the volcanic outcrop does have a hospital and resident Medical Officer, it has no airstrip. ®

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