17 American passengers aboard hantavirus-hit cruise ship will quarantine in Nebraska

Key Points:

• Seventeen American passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, involved in a hantavirus outbreak, will quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska, with CDC support and a planned repatriation flight arranged by the U.S. State Department.
• Six confirmed cases and two probable cases of Andes hantavirus have been reported, including three deaths; the virus is rare, typically contracted from rodents, with limited person-to-person transmission.
• Spanish health authorities are treating a woman suspected of hantavirus infection after exposure on a flight linked to a fatal case, while British officials confirmed a suspected case on the remote Tristan da Cunha island, a stop on the Hondius route.
• Disembarkation protocols require passengers and crew to quarantine and undergo PCR testing, with isolation measures in place for symptomatic individuals; British passengers must isolate for 45 days due to the virus's incubation period.
• The WHO is investigating the outbreak's source, focusing on a probable initial case linked to travel in Argentina and Chile; the cruise operator reports calm conditions on board with medical teams managing the situation.