Yesterday, passengers on the MV Hondius Dutch cruise ship left a port in Spain and returned to their home countries, where national teams will isolate and monitor them in the coming days for signs of hantavirus, a rodent-spread disease that has killed three and infected at least 10 passengers (eight confirmed, two probable) en route from Argentina to Europe.
Among those who debarked yesterday are 18 Americans, one of whom has tested positive for the virus. Sixteen Americans, including the asymptomatic patient, are being held at the National Quarantine Unit, located on the campus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Two other American passengers, including one who is showing symptoms of hantavirus, are being held at Emory University in Atlanta.
Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said, “Protecting the health and safety of Americans remains our highest priority, and we have deployed the nation’s leading medical and public health resources in this effort.”
‘This is not COVID’
Over the weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also issued a Health Alert Network advisory on hantavirus.
“In the Americas, hantaviruses can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a severe and potentially deadly disease that affects the lungs. HPS can be life-threatening. Among patients who have severe respiratory symptoms, the case fatality rate has been estimated at approximately 38%,” the CDC said.
Despite being a serious and deadly virus, US officials over the weekend worked to calm fears that this was the start of another pandemic.
I can assure you that the CDC has been absolutely on top of this outbreak
“The key message I want to send to your audience is that this is not COVID, this is not going to have—lead to the [that] kind of outbreak,” said CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, on CNN. “I can assure you that the CDC has been absolutely on top of this outbreak.”
Experts caution that more cases could follow given the long incubation period of the virus. Symptoms of HPS can appear up to 42 days after exposure.
Yesterday, French authorities confirmed that a woman who had been on the ship and developed symptoms during her flight home to Paris has been confirmed to have hantavirus.
