A Hantavirus Outbreak on a Cruise Ship Sparks Global Concern
An American individual infected with hantavirus was captured on camera being escorted off a Boeing 747 at Atlanta airport, clad in heavy hazmat gear. This incident occurred at the United States’ busiest travel hub, where the unidentified flier was one of two passengers taken off the plane around 9am ET on Monday morning.
The pair had just landed from Nebraska, where the same aircraft had arrived earlier in the day carrying 17 Americans and one British national. The plane had evacuated them from the MV Hondius expedition ship in Tenerife. After being removed from the plane in Atlanta, the two individuals were placed in separate ambulances and transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
They did not enter any buildings and were disembarked via outside steps. One is exhibiting symptoms while the other is asymptomatic and under monitoring. No further updates have been released, though hantavirus has a 40 percent mortality rate. They are being treated for the disease at Emory’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit.
Both patients are believed to have the Andes strain of hantavirus, which experts state can only be transmitted through close and prolonged contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
All passengers were aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, which departed Argentina on April 1 and made several stops as it crossed the Atlantic, carrying approximately 149 people representing 23 different nationalities. The first signs of the virus appeared on April 6 when a Dutch man fell ill onboard the ship. He died five days later, and his body was removed from the vessel in St. Helena island on April 24, when his wife also disembarked. She then flew to South Africa a day later and died.
By that time, twenty-nine other passengers had left the ship and returned to their home countries, including seven Americans. These individuals are being monitored by health officials in their respective states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, and New Jersey.
A total of three passengers have died from the virus, including the Dutch man, his wife, and a German woman who died onboard the ship on May 2. Health officials believe the outbreak originated from two passengers who may have been exposed to the virus during a birdwatching tour at a landfill in Argentina.
The 17 people who landed in Nebraska overnight do not include the Americans who left the ship shortly before the outbreak began. One American passenger tested positive for hantavirus but is not showing symptoms, according to US health officials. Another had mild symptoms.
Four Canadians were among the asymptomatic passengers on board the MV Hondius when it docked in Spain on Sunday. They have since arrived in British Columbia and were ordered to quarantine. Canadian health officials have identified at least four other individuals—from Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario—who were not on the ship but may have come into contact with an infected person while flying.
After landing at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, the American cruise ship passengers were transferred to waiting buses and driven away from the airport. Those who arrived in Nebraska earlier today were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they had been in close contact with any symptomatic individuals and their risk levels for spreading the virus.
Travel blogger Jake Rosmarin, who was on the flight, shared a smiling selfie on his Instagram page this morning, stating how he is “okay and feeling well.” He mentioned that the repatriation flight was smooth and that he safely arrived at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha. He expressed gratitude to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the city of Omaha for their support.
One passenger was transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while others were sent to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine network, said that the passenger in the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not show symptoms.
The university medical center also houses a special unit for treating highly infectious diseases, which was used during the early stages of the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients. A CDC official stated that they hope the passengers’ time in Nebraska will be limited, according to The Washington Post.
The MV Hondius cruise ship has become the focus of global concern after three passengers died following the outbreak of the rare virus. Nations worldwide are now working to repatriate passengers from the ship. Eight cases have been confirmed in the hantavirus outbreak, with two more listed as ‘probable,’ according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and national health authorities, affecting citizens from six countries.
Spain’s health ministry stated that all measures have been taken to prevent the virus from spreading during the evacuations. Medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks.
The US citizen who tested positive did not show symptoms when they were in Cape Verde, where the MV Hondius stopped before reaching the Canary Islands, the ministry said. However, US authorities decided to treat the case as positive and requested a separate evacuation, which was carried out in a separate boat.
A French woman who tested positive for the virus started to feel unwell during the flight and not while she was on the ship. Her condition worsened in the hospital overnight, according to French Health Minister Stephanie Rist. She was among five French passengers repatriated on Sunday.
The WHO has recommended close monitoring of former passengers, and many countries have quarantined them. Numerous countries have announced that their citizens will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.
Australia is sending a plane, expected to arrive on Monday, to evacuate its people and those from nearby countries such as New Zealand and unspecified Asian nations, according to Spanish Health Minister Mónica García. She added that the evacuation flight was expected to be the last to leave Tenerife.
Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said a second Dutch flight on Monday would bring back more passengers from the Netherlands and other nations. Berendsen emphasized that the evacuation operation is based on concern for the passengers and public health, aiming to handle the situation in the best way possible.
