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Hantavirus live updates: Americans in quarantine seen in good spirits
Two cruise ship passengers complimented the quarantine staff and doctors.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were 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 began disembarking on Sunday in the Canary Islands, where many boarded charter flights to their home countries.
Sixteen American passengers arrived on Monday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Fifteen of those passengers were being monitored in a quarantine unit and another, who had tested positive, was in a biocontainment unit, officials said. Two other American passengers were flown to Atlanta for "further assessment and care," officials said.
Key Headlines
- Minnesota monitoring person 'potentially exposed' to hantavirus, Health Department says
- Potential hantavirus case in Illinois not related to ship outbreak, health officials say
- American quarantining in Nebraska shares video tour of his room
- Passengers in Nebraska undergoing in-depth interviews, symptom monitoring
- 2 people being monitored in Seattle area
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.
1 American positive for hantavirus, another symptomatic, HHS says
The Department of Health and Human Services released a statement on Sunday saying one American has tested positive for hantavirus as the plane with 18 MV Hondius passengers is headed to the U.S.
Two of the passengers on the plane are traveling in the aircraft's biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution," according to HHS.
The agency said that of the two, one passenger currently has mild symptoms and the other has tested PCR positive for the virus.
The plane is first going to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center before taking the passenger with mild symptoms to a second RESPTC, according to HHS.
"Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition," HHS said.
American flight takes off from Spain
The plane carrying 18 passengers, including 17 Americans and one British national who is a U.S. resident, that disembarked from the MV Hondius has departed Spain and is headed back to the United States.
American passengers arrive at Tenerife airport
The American passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius have arrived at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands.
A total 18 people will be on the American repatriation flight, including the 17 Americans and one British national who is a resident of the U.S., the Spanish minister of health told ABC News.
-ABC News' Maggie Rulli
American passengers disembarking from MV Hondius
The 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius have begun disembarking from the ship.
As of Saturday, none of the American passengers had tested positive for the hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The aircraft that will return the Americans to the U.S. is expected to take off from Tenerife at 9:30 p.m. local time/4:30 p.m. Eastern time but could possibly depart earlier if circumstances allow, a source with the Spanish president's office previously told ABC News. It is not yet clear if or when that aircraft has landed in Tenerife.
The passengers will be flown to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, managed by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the only federally funded quarantine unit in the U.S.
During a press briefing Friday, officials with the National Quarantine Unit said there is not yet a defined period for how long the passengers would remain at the unit.
-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic, Aicha El Hammar and Maggie Rulli