American Passenger From Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship Tests Positive
WASHINGTON — An American passenger from the hantavirus-affected Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius has tested positive for the virus, while another U.S. passenger has mild symptoms, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Monday.
All 17 American citizens from the ship are being airlifted to the United States, with the two affected passengers traveling in biocontainment units as a precaution, the department said in a post on X.
The passengers will first be taken to the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. The passenger with mild symptoms will later be transferred to another regional treatment center at their final destination, officials said.
“Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition,” the department said.
As of Saturday, authorities had reported eight suspected cases linked to the outbreak and three deaths.
The incubation period for hantavirus, from exposure to symptoms, is estimated at one to eight weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus is usually spread by rodents, though rare person-to-person transmission has been reported. Hantavirus infections can be severe and are fatal in more than a third of cases.
The outbreak has also prompted emergency measures in the United Kingdom. Twenty British nationals evacuated from the MV Hondius were placed in isolation at a northwest England hospital after returning Sunday.
The passengers landed in Manchester before being taken by bus to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral in Merseyside, where they will remain under medical observation for 72 hours. Local National Health Service officials said the group would stay in a “managed setting for clinical assessment and testing.” If they remain symptom-free, they will be allowed to return home and continue self-isolation for another 42 days.
The British government said all passengers and crew members returning from the MV Hondius would undergo 45 days of isolation and monitoring. Officials are also following up with people who may have had contact with confirmed or suspected cases.
As part of the broader response, the British government deployed a specialist military and medical team to Tristan da Cunha, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, after a British national on the island tested positive for hantavirus.
The British Ministry of Defence said six paratroopers and two military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade parachuted onto the island while oxygen supplies and medical equipment were air-dropped at the same time.
Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island group with a population of 221, is considered Britain’s most remote inhabited overseas territory. It has no airstrip and is normally reachable only by sea.
The Ministry of Defence said the operation marked the first time the British military had deployed medical personnel by parachute for a humanitarian mission.
British officials said the risk to the general public remained “very low.” (Source: IANS)
