APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
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 stands at 10, 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 initially tested positive, was in a biocontainment unit, officials said. Later, that person tested negative and was medically cleared to go to the quarantine unit.
Two other American passengers were flown to Atlanta for "further assessment and care," officials said.
Key Headlines
- American doctor who initially tested positive moved from isolation after negative test
- 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.
Dutch hospital confirms patient has hantavirus
Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands said in a statement Thursday that it has admitted a patient with the hantavirus.
The patient arrived at the hospital Wednesday, according to LUMC.
"The department where the patient is admitted is prepared to care for patients with severe infectious diseases. During the treatment of a patient with a suspected serious contagious disease at LUMC, all precautionary measures are taken to prevent spread," the hospital said.
There are now six confirmed hantavirus cases and five suspected.
-ABC News' Zoe Magee
'This is not the start of a COVID pandemic': WHO official
World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said Thursday that the current hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius is not the same as the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic," Van Kerkhove said. "This is an outbreak that we see on a ship."
Van Kerkhove further noted that hantavirus doesn't spread in the same way coronaviruses do, but rather requires "close, intimate contact."
Anais Legand with the WHO said that a ship makes “a very specific environment” for transmission, but that there was no indication that there is something unusual about the virus.
-ABC News' Joseph Simonetti and Zoe Magee