Eighteen Americans Monitored After Possible Hantavirus Exposure on Cruise Ship

Eighteen Americans evacuated from a cruise ship after possible exposure to hantavirus are under close watch by health officials. Authorities say the risk to the public remains very, very low.

One passenger on the Dutch vessel MV Hondius tested positive for the Andes virus, a rare hantavirus strain, while another shows mild symptoms. The positive result is the first confirmed case in an American passenger.

Two people are under monitoring in Atlanta, and 16 others are at the nation's only national quarantine unit in Nebraska.

"No-one who poses a risk to public health is walking out the front door onto the streets of Omaha," Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said at a press conference with health officials on Monday morning.

To save space at the Nebraska facility, some passengers flew to Atlanta, including the one with mild symptoms, said Brendan Jackson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two in Georgia include the symptomatic passenger and that person's partner.

"Let me be crystal clear: the risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low," said Admiral Brian Christine of the US Health and Human Services department. "The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic."

Experts note most hantavirus strains, carried by rodents, do not spread person to person. But the Andes strain has been identified in several people from the Dutch cruise ship.

The 16 passengers in Nebraska are in good shape and good spirits, said Michael Wadman, medical director of the National Quarantine Unit. The person who tested positive for Andes virus is in a biocontainment facility and has no symptoms.

The CDC said symptoms do not necessarily mean hantavirus infection. Mild cold symptoms count, said Brendan Jackson, adding officials are taking extra precautions.

The patient's specimen was taken on the ship, not in the US, Jackson said. Two specimens from that patient showed one positive and one negative result.

"With these PCR tests... there's sort of a range in where they can fall," he said at the press conference. "And so for that reason, we just want to make sure there's further testing to evaluate that."

Health officials now focus on symptom monitoring. The Nebraska passengers will get further assessment after rest, Wadman said.

Passengers will stay at the Nebraska facility for several days. Officials will decide case by case if they need the full 42-day quarantine.