American Hantavirus Patient Ordered to Stay in Quarantine Despite Plans to Leave

Key Points:

• Angela Perryman, an American exposed to the deadly hantavirus on a cruise from Argentina, has been placed under a federal quarantine order requiring her to stay at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, until the end of May.
• Although Perryman tested negative for hantavirus and shows no symptoms, she had brief contact with a passenger who later died from the illness, prompting the quarantine.
• The quarantine order, authorized by the CDC acting director, mandates a 21-day isolation period during the highest risk window for symptoms to appear, with potential for individualized decisions on release.
• Federal officials previously indicated that the 18 exposed passengers would be screened and monitored for several days, with possible home quarantine afterward, but Perryman and others were warned that non-voluntary compliance would result in mandatory quarantine orders.
• The National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is the only federally funded quarantine facility, now housing all passengers exposed to the virus after initial transfers from Atlanta.