Hantavirus updates: Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus
All of the 18 American ship passengers are at the Nebraska quarantine facility.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship stands at 11, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
No cases of Andes hantavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. The eighteen American ship passengers are being monitored at the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Key Headlines
- Canadian cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus
- Health officials in Washington state tracking hantavirus case unrelated to cruise ship
- 2 cruise ship passengers originally in Atlanta now at Nebraska quarantine facility
- Suspected hantavirus case at upstate New York high school, not linked to cruise ship
- US has no cases of Andes hantavirus
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.
French passenger tests positive, minister says
One of the five French passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius has tested positive for hantavirus, according to French Health Minister Stephanie Rist, who spoke to French public radio on Monday morning.
The passenger showed symptoms on the plane to France, and their condition worsened overnight, Rist said. They are in a specialist infectious diseases hospital, she said.
Additionally, France has identified 22 "contact cases" -- people who may have come into contact with those infected with hantavirus, she said. These people were on two flights where someone with hantavirus was also on board and have been isolating, according to Rist.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
Plane lands in Nebraska carrying Americans evacuated from cruise ship
A plane carrying American passengers who were evacuated on Sunday from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship arrived early on Monday in Nebraska.
Officials on Sunday said one of the passengers arriving at Omaha's Eppley Airfield via a Department of State airlift tested positive for the virus.
That passenger and another were on the plane were traveling in the aircraft's biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
American who tested positive will be transported to biocontainment unit
The American passenger who tested positive for hantavirus will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, according to Nebraska Medicine, which hosts the facility.
The individual does not have any symptoms and was separated from other passengers during the flight through biocontainment measures. They will be receiving a follow-up test, Nebraska Medicine said.
The remaining passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring.
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.