Americans Enter Quarantine In U.S. After Hantavirus Nightmare At Sea

Over a dozen Americans arrived in Nebraska on Monday morning for monitoring after being trapped on board a cruise ship during a hantavirus scare. 

The State Department airlifted 17 American citizens from the Dutch ship M.V. Hondius after their vacation was disrupted by fears of the Andes strain of the hantavirus. The Department of Health and Human Services said that one passenger had tested positive for the virus while another showed mild symptoms.

HHS said Sunday that “two of the passengers traveling in the plane’s biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution. One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus.”

The passengers were transported to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. The passengers are expected to be quarantined for 42 days while they undergo testing. 

“Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition,” HHS said. 

The person who tested positive for the virus had no symptoms, according to Nebraska Medicine. 

“The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,” Nebraska Medicine said. “They were managed separately from other passengers during transport using appropriate biocontainment measures. They will be monitored in the Biocontainment Unit out of an abundance of caution and follow-up testing will be performed.”

The arrival of the passengers in Nebraska comes after days of uncertainty aboard the ship, which had effectively been stranded at sea while governments and health agencies coordinated where passengers could safely disembark and quarantine.

The ship docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday and Spanish health officials said that evacuation efforts were “proceeding normally” as passengers were escorted off the vessel in small groups under strict biosecurity measures. Travelers wore face masks and protective coverings while hazmat-suited crews transported them directly to quarantine flights waiting at Tenerife Airport.

At least nine confirmed or suspected cases have now been linked to the outbreak, including three fatalities. Officials believe the outbreak likely began after an elderly Dutch couple contracted the virus during travel in Argentina before boarding the cruise ship. The husband later died aboard the vessel, while his wife became seriously ill after leaving the ship and died in South Africa. Another passenger, a German national, also died after developing symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Controls said last week that “the risk to the American public remains extremely low.”