90-Second Read: Doctor from Hantavirus-stricken ship tests negative, moves out of biocontainment unit

Stephen Kornfeld, a passenger from the MV Hondius who had tested "faintly positive" for Hantavirus, has now tested negative and been moved out of a Nebraska biocontainment unit. US officials have said Hondius passengers may be able to return home to complete weeks of health monitoring for Andes Hantavirus. Hantavirus has a long incubation period, and people with high-risk exposures, including cruise ship passengers and people who were on an international flight with a sick passenger, should be monitored for 42 days, health officials say.

And now, in retrospect, there is a question, could it have been Hantavirus? The World Health Organization said in an update earlier Wednesday that the current Hantavirus case count tied to the Hondius stood at 11, but Kornfeld's initial positive test was among that number. Federal officials are working with medical staff to "ensure that they have the appropriate disposition," the CDC officials said in the agency's first briefing since the Hantavirus outbreak began.

Some countries are testing all of their passengers who were exposed to Hantavirus. At least 19 other people across at least 10 states also may have been exposed to Hantavirus, and they are being encouraged to isolate at home as the CDC works with state and local partners to help monitor them. He told Burnett on Wednesday that confirmatory PCR testing was negative.