Americans From Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Arrive in Nebraska for Monitoring

OMAHA, Neb. — Eighteen American passengers from the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, returned to the United States early Monday and were taken for monitoring at specialized federal facilities, U.S. health officials said.

The passengers disembarked in the Canary Islands on Sunday and boarded a medical repatriation flight arranged by the U.S. government. After landing at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, most went to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for evaluation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One Positive Test

Sixteen of the passengers remained in Nebraska, including one who tested mildly positive for hantavirus and was placed in biocontainment at the medical center. Two others, a couple, one of whom was showing symptoms, continued to Atlanta, where they are being cared for in a specialized biocontainment unit at Emory University.

The group includes one dual U.S.-British citizen. In total, nearly 150 people from 23 countries were aboard the Dutch-flagged ship, which departed southern Argentina on April 1 on an itinerary across the South Atlantic that included stops at remote islands.

Outbreak Toll

Three passengers have died since the outbreak began. The World Health Organization said on Monday that the outbreak had reached at least nine cases, including the three deaths, after French health authorities reported that a French woman had tested positive.

The Andes Strain

The outbreak has been linked to the Andes variant of hantavirus, the only hantavirus known to spread from person to person. Most hantavirus infections are caused by contact with infected rodent droppings. The Andes strain can cause severe respiratory illness, but health officials say transmission between people generally requires prolonged, close contact with someone who has symptoms.

Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said scientists have studied the virus for decades and that small clusters occur, but large outbreaks have not been seen in 30 years, making a pandemic unlikely. He welcomed the passengers to what he described as the premier facility of its kind.

Weeks of Monitoring

Symptoms can take up to 42 days after exposure to appear, according to the CDC, and the passengers will be monitored for several weeks. Most of the Americans were reported to be well.

The Nebraska unit is the only federally funded quarantine facility in the country. It previously housed passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship during the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Health officials stressed that the returning passengers had been isolating in their cabins aboard the ship before the flight, and that the monitoring arrangements were designed to detect any illness early while protecting the public.