What it Is And How It Spreads
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC. Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.
How It began
There are about 30 cases of hantavirus a year in the U.S. on average, and "they mostly occur west of the Mississippi" about 96%, Osterholm said, due to a specific mouse that lives in that region. He also said that person-to-person transmission of the hantavirus strain in question is "a very rare exception," and only occurs when someone is exhibiting symptoms of the virus. According to Oceanwide Expeditions, a total of 30 people, including six American passengers, left the cruise late last month after the first leg of the trip and before anyone had confirmed the deadly outbreak. The illness is believed to have killed three people and infected at least eight others who were on the ship. Laboratory testing has confirmed the Andes strain of the virus is present among those who have tested positive.
None of them is an American. Passengers onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship began disembarking on Sunday morning in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, where they were expected to continue on to charter flights back to their home countries. The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the ship is eight, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
There are 17 U.S. citizens aboard the ship who will be returning to the United States. As of Saturday none of them had tested positive for the hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC official said Saturday that the federal government doesn't plan to have the repatriated American cruise ship passengers quarantine upon arrival in the U.S.
What Now
American who tested positive will be transported to biocontainment unit
The American passenger who tested positive for hantavirus will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, according to Nebraska Medicine, which hosts the facility. The individual does not have any symptoms and was separated from other passengers during the flight through biocontainment measures. They will be receiving a follow-up test, Nebraska Medicine said.
The remaining passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring.
1 American positive for hantavirus, another symptomatic, HHS says The Department of Health and Human Services released a statement on Sunday saying one American has tested positive for hantavirus as the plane with 18 MV Hondius passengers is headed to the U.S. Two of the passengers on the plane are traveling in the aircraft's biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution," according to HHS.
The agency said that of the two, one passenger currently has mild symptoms and the other has tested PCR positive for the virus. The plane is first going to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center before taking the passenger with mild symptoms to a second RESPTC, according to HHS.
"Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition," HHS said.
American flight takes off from Spain
The plane carrying 18 passengers, including 17 Americans and one British national who is a U.S. resident, that disembarked from the MV Hondius has departed Spain and is headed back to the United States.
American passengers arrive at Tenerife airport
The American passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius have arrived at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands. A total 18 people will be on the American repatriation flight, including the 17 Americans and one British national who is a resident of the U.S., the Spanish minister of health told ABC News.
The 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius have begun disembarking from the ship.
At least five state health departments in the U.S. are monitoring a small group of Americans who returned to the country after disembarking from a cruise ship that is experiencing a deadly hantavirus outbreak overseas.
As of Saturday, none of the American passengers had tested positive for the hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
French MV Hondius passenger now symptomatic, French PM says
A person who was among five French nationals aboard the MV Hondius has shown signs of hantavirus infection, according to the French prime minister. "Five of our compatriots present on the MV Hondius, a hotbed of Hantavirus infection, have been repatriated to national territory. One of them exhibited symptoms on the repatriation flight," Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu posted Sunday on X "As a result, these five passengers were immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice," Lecornu said, adding that the passengers "are receiving medical care and will undergo testing and a full health assessment."
"Starting this evening, I will issue a decree to implement appropriate isolation measures for close contacts and to protect the general population," Lecornu added. If confirmed, the French national would bring to nine the total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the ship, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus. Pope Leo thanks Canary Islands residents for 'hospitality' shown to MV Hondius passengers During his public noontime prayer Sunday in St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo thanked residents of the Canary Islands for their "hospitality" shown to the MV Hondius and its passengers.
"I would like to thank the people of the Canary Islands who, with the hospitality characteristic of them, welcomed the cruise ship Hondius and the passengers infected with the hantavirus," the pontiff said. "I look forward to seeing all of you next month during my visit to the islands,"
the pope added, referring to the visit that had already been planned as part of a broader trip to Spain in June.
The passengers aboard the MV Hondius, including 17 Americans, disembarked from the ship Sunday in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, to begin their journeys back to their home countries. Hantavirus outbreak 'on the end of its run right now,' expert says The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius "is on the end of its run right now," a top infectious disease expert told ABC News "This Week" Sunday.
"The good news is that, in a sense, it is hantavirus and not another coronavirus or influenza virus. This is one that has very limited ability to be transmitted person to person. In fact, it's a rare exception," Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), said to Martha Raddatz. "And so we have no question about the fact that this really is on the end of its run right now."
"Right now, you can manage the individuals who have been exposed very simply by asking them twice a day, 'are you experiencing any kind of a fever?' And then take the temperature: 'Do you have any symptoms?' If somebody is identified right at that point, you can put basically an N95 mask on and stop all transmission," Osterholm said. Airplane from US expected in Tenerife early Sunday afternoon An airplane from the U.S. is expected to land in Tenerife, in the Canary Island, at 5:23 p.m. local time/12:23 p.m. Eastern time, according to a source in the Spanish president's office.
The aircraft will carry U.S. passengers only, according to the source. There are 17 U.S. citizens aboard the ship who will be returning to the United States. As of now, the U.S. airplane is expected to take off from Tenerife at 9:30 p.m. local time/4:30 p.m. Eastern time but could possibly depart earlier if circumstances allow, the source said. The passengers onboard the MV Hondius began disembarking from the ship in Tenerife on Sunday morning.
The average person has no reason to worry,' WHO expert says "The average person has no reason to worry" about potential hantavirus infection, according to an expert with the World Health Organization (WHO). "This Andes hantavirus has spread in limited amount from human to human ... This is not COVID, this is not passing someone in a hallway in an airport outside at a stadium and getting infected," Dr. Boris Pavlin, an epidemiologist and the team lead for Field and Humanitarian Epidemiology.
He also said the investigation in the hantavirus infection cluster's origin indicates "there's absolutely every reason to believe that this came from rodents" and that it did not originate from the region the ship departed, but elsewhere in northern Argentina and Chile, where the long-tailed rice rat, which is the specific carrier of the Andes hantavirus strain, is common. Pavlin also confirmed that the first hantavirus cases on board the MV Hondius had previously traveled to this region in the north.
Pavlin additionally confirmed that no one on board was currently showing any symptoms but were "just being monitored as a precautionary measure." He also said he understands why people are concerned. "I know it's a new name for a lot of people, but this is not a new virus. We've known about it for decades and it's not surprising us," Pavlin said. The entire operation is proceeding normally and I said the first to disembark will be the Spanish citizens, and then the flight to the Netherlands will depart," Garcia said prior to the passengers' beginning of their departures from the ship. Flights were planned for passengers who were headed to Canada, Turkey, France, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, she said.
"The Netherlands will send two planes: today's plane and another one tomorrow, which we'll call a 'sweeper plane,' to pick up any passengers not picked up by the other countries," she said. "But in principle, well, throughout today and tomorrow, all the planes of all nationalities will be disembarked and taken back to their respective countries."
Cruise ship arrives in Tenerife
The MV Hondius arrived early on Sunday off the coast of Tenerife, dropping anchor near the industrial port of Granadilla at about 5:30 a.m. local time. Evacuations from the ship were expected to began as soon as possible. The local government in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago off the northwestern African coast, said it would like everyone off the boat and out of the Canary Islands by today. They also said they want the boat to depart by end of day.
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