CDC Plans To Isolate Americans Exposed, Report Says (Live Updates)

Key Points:

• Health officials plan to meet American passengers of the hantavirus-affected MV Hondius cruise ship upon its arrival in the Canary Islands and escort them to quarantine in Nebraska for an unspecified duration.
• The MV Hondius, currently off Morocco en route to the Canary Islands, has nearly 150 passengers from 23 countries, with multiple confirmed and suspected cases of Andes strain hantavirus linked to deaths and critical illnesses onboard.
• The Andes hantavirus is unique in being transmissible person-to-person, primarily through close, prolonged contact; health authorities are conducting extensive contact tracing and risk assessments, recommending daily monitoring for 42 days for exposed individuals.
• The ship’s journey included remote islands in the South Atlantic and Antarctica, with some passengers evacuated for medical care; Spanish officials have now permitted the ship to dock in Tenerife despite earlier denial of entry in Cape Verde.
• Symptoms of hantavirus include fever, muscle aches, respiratory distress, and have a high mortality rate in pulmonary cases; there is no specific treatment, only supportive care, and misinformation about ivermectin as a cure has been debunked by experts.