American passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship headed to Nebraska quarantine, health officials say
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN/ABC NEWS) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said the Americans aboard the MV Hondius — the Dutch cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak — will quarantine in Nebraska.
According to ABC News, a CDC official said the agency will send personnel to the Canary Islands, where the ship is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
The teams will then escort those Americans to the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska.
The University of Nebraska, which hosts the quarantine facility, said the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine are “in close coordination with national partners” regarding the hantavirus cluster onboard the ship, according to ABC News.
“We cannot discuss specific communications at this time, but our specialized teams, including the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and National Quarantine Unit, are staffed and ready, if needed, to safely provide care while protecting our staff and the community.”
This facility is the only federally funded 20‑bed National Quarantine Unit in the United States. It is designed to provide first‑class quarantine and isolation care for individuals exposed to highly hazardous communicable diseases.
The National Quarantine Unit is located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Training, Simulation and Quarantine Center on the Omaha campus, within the Dr. Erwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center.
The total number of confirmed cases associated with the outbreak is increasing, health officials said. To date, three people who were aboard the ship are known to have died of the virus.
More than 100 passengers remain on the ship, and the World Health Organization is monitoring their health. Officials said the “overall public health risk remains low,” but there may be some person-to-person spread.
Health officials in multiple states say they’re monitoring some passengers who have returned to the U.S. after being aboard the ship for potential hantavirus infections.
According to AP News, hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people.
