90-Second Read: 4 Californians being monitored for Hantavirus exposure, officials say

Four Californians were exposed to the Andes strain of the Hantavirus and are being monitored by public health officials, the California Department of Public Health announced Monday, May 11. Pan noted that although these two Californians were exposed to the Hantavirus, they were allowed to return to California since neither resident was showing symptomatic behaviors. Since its departure, three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, have died in the outbreak, according to health officials.

Out of the four people exposed, two of the residents were on the MV Hondius cruise ship and are currently being quarantined in Nebraska with the other Americans who were evacuated and returned stateside, according Erica Pan, the director and state public health officer for CDPH. The other two people exposed to the virus are currently being monitored by the Santa Clara and Sacramento counties' public health departments, according to Pan. The resident has since returned to Sacramento County and is being monitored for symptoms.

Hantavirus typically spreads through contact with the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents, and human-to-human transmission is uncommon. The WHO has said it believes the Hantavirus outbreak stemmed from a Dutch couple on board the MV Hondius who both later died from their infections. The CDPH did not release the counties of origin of these two people being quarantined.