90-Second Read: American Doctor Identified as Hantavirus-Positive Cruise Passenger Explains How He Got His 'Mild Positive' Test Result

Doctor Stephen Kornfield revealed that he is the Hantavirus-positive American passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship who is currently in isolation. Stephen Kornfeld has revealed that he is the American passenger formerly on board the MV Hondius cruise ship who tested positive for Hantavirus. The doctor was on board the cruise for vacation, but after the ship's doctor got sick, Kornfeld stepped in to assist with passengers who were ill. The oncologist was vacationing when several of the boat's crew came down with the illness, and stepped in for the boat's doctor once he became too sick. I was still able to do all the ship activities." He added that his symptoms don't necessarily mean that he had Hantavirus.

At the time, it felt like this is just some virus and now, in retrospect, there was a question, could it have been Hantavirus? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in some cases, symptoms can take up to eight weeks to appear. A French woman who also contracted Hantavirus while onboard the ship is now critically ill, and relying on an artificial lung, a doctor treating her has said. On Tuesday, May 12, Kornfeld appeared on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront to discuss his condition and the precautions being taken with his quarantine. Some of those tests were sent to two different labs in the Netherlands to be tested.

Kornfeld has since been transported to the University of Nebraska's biocontainment unit in Omaha, Neb., where he is quarantining as he awaits more test results. Joao Luiz Bulcao / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty "One was negative and one was faintly positive. I was told the test was intermediate, but I think since it wasn't a negative, it's sort of being looked at as a potential positive. The Dutch authority communicated those results to the CDC, and here I am." He shared that he has continued testing and is expecting some results back from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the next few days. In the meantime, he's staying in the biocontainment unit in Omaha.

For now, Kornfeld says that while it's "a little weird" being by himself and the only patient in the biocontainment unit, he's comfortable. So far, three people have died amid the outbreak, with two confirmed to have had the virus, per the BBC. The room is a hospital room, it looks just like a hospital room anywhere in the country," Kornfeld told CNN. It's got the usual equipment and a very comfortable hospital bed. On Monday, a South African health ministry spokesperson said a British man with the virus who was being treated in a hospital there is "improving, gradually so," but that he is "still ill,' per Reuters.