APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
Hantavirus live updates: 16 at facility in Nebraska, 2 at hospital in Atlanta
A flight carrying U.S. citizens who were on the ship arrived Monday in Nebraska.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has risen to 11, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
Passengers disembarked the cruise ship in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, to be transferred to charter flights back to their home countries.
On Monday, 16 American cruise ship passengers arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; 15 are in the quarantine unit and one person who tested positive is in the biocontainment unit, officials said. Two other American cruise ship passengers were flown to Atlanta for "further assessment and care," officials said.
Key Headlines
- Positive patient in France presenting 'severe form,' in 'serious condition'
- Symptomatic cruise ship passenger in Atlanta tests negative
- 12 Dutch hospital staffers quarantined after treating hantavirus patient
- Cruise ship passenger speaks out from quarantine
- 'No sign' of 'larger outbreak,' WHO director-general says
What is hantavirus and how does it spread?
Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:
What is hantavirus?
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.
How does hantavirus spread?
Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.
Read more about hantavirus here.
Positive patient in France presenting 'severe form,' in 'serious condition'
The French cruise ship passenger who tested positive for hantavirus “is presenting a severe form and is currently in intensive care in a serious condition,” French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said in French at a news conference on Tuesday.
The other four French nationals who were taken off the ship were hospitalized for monitoring and they tested negative and "are doing well," she said.
Rist stressed that only people who were on the ship have tested positive.
Through contact tracing, Rist said “eight French nationals were identified on the flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg. A second flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam was carrying French nationals with a lower level of risk, in so far as a patient was present but was rapidly disembarked, which limited the exposure of travelers.”
“In total, 22 contact cases have been identified in France,” she said. “They have all been contacted, tested, hospitalized or are in the process of being hospitalized and are subject to rigorous health monitoring.”
-ABC News’ Othon Leyva
Symptomatic cruise ship passenger in Atlanta tests negative
The cruise ship passenger at an Atlanta hospital who reported mild symptoms has tested negative for hantavirus, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. This passenger’s partner is also being monitored at the Emory University facility, officials said.
Meanwhile, the 16 passengers who are being monitored in Nebraska do not have symptoms, including the person in the biocontainment unit who previously tested positive, HHS said.
-ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud
12 Dutch hospital staffers quarantined after treating hantavirus patient
Twelve staffers at a hospital in the Netherlands are under quarantine after treating a hantavirus patient, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans told lawmakers.
“Strict procedures were followed there, but not the very strictest procedures that apply in the case of this hantavirus,” Hermans said.
“This concerns the taking of blood and the disposal of urine from the patient,” she said. "… The chance that staff were infected as a result is small, but because we know that we are dealing with a serious virus here, [the hospital officials] said we are erring on the side of caution. We know this is a drastic measure with a major impact, but we are taking it nonetheless.”
-ABC News’ Othon Leyva
Cruise ship passenger speaks out from quarantine
Jake Rosmarin is among the passengers quarantining in Nebraska after disembarking the MV Hondius cruise ship.
"I was relieved to get off the ship and have a plan in place, and they were treating us really, really well here, so I can't ask for anything more than that," Rosmarin told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
Rosmarin said he is not experiencing any symptoms and plans on remaining in quarantine for the next 42 days.
"I think that is the best decision that's for me and for my family, and I know that here, I'm in the best care possible," Rosmarin said, adding that his room in the quarantine unit has air conditioning, an exercise bike and he is receiving at least three meals a day. "I can't ask for any more than that."
Click here to read more.