CDC concludes response to hantavirus outbreak on cruise
by Danielle Haynes · UPIJune 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday it has officially wound down its response to a hantavirus outbreak associated with a cruise ship.
CDC officials told reporters that all Americans exposed to the virus on board the MV Hondius have completed a 42-day quarantine and have returned home. None of those being monitored tested positive for the virus.
Eighteen U.S. citizens were quarantined at the Nebraska Medicine Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska in Omaha after being evacuated from the ship where it was docked in Spain's Canary Islands in early May. Nineteen other Americans had disembarked from the ship before the hantavirus outbreak became apparent. Those individuals were monitored in their homes, The Hill reported.
"These passengers were navigating uncertainty, disruption to their daily lives, and concerns for themselves and their families," said Brendan Jackson, acting director of the CDC's Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.
"I'd like to thank them for their cooperation and commitment to protecting others."
The Oceanwide Expeditions ship set sail from Argentina on April 1 with 175 passengers and crew members from 23 countries. There were 12 confirmed cases and one suspected case of hantavirus among those on board the ship, and three died.
Hantavirus is typically spread from animals to humans, but the particular strain involved in this outbreak, the Andes strain, could be transmitted between humans. The incubation period of the virus is six weeks meaning it could take weeks for more cases to appear.