90-Second Read: Emory was ready for Hantavirus, but for now, there’s none to treat

Early Monday morning, a couple who traveled on the MV Hondius, the cruise ship with a rare and deadly Hantavirus outbreak, were wheeled into Emory University Hospital's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit. With television helicopters hovering overhead, two passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship were admitted to Emory's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit on Monday, a facility meant to treat deadly infectious diseases like Hantavirus and Ebola. Emory was prepared to battle the Andes virus, a type of Hantavirus that causes severe respiratory illness and can be spread from person to person.

Three people have died in the current outbreak, out of 10 cases linked to the Hondius. When two Ebola patients received treatment there in 2014, uneaten food or other solid waste was sanitized with pressurized steam in an autoclave then incinerated. Early Hantavirus symptoms are vague and flulike, fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, chills, nausea or diarrhea, and dizziness.

Emory confirmed to Atlanta that the passengers were "safely discharged" on Friday. The new guidelines call for public health officials to monitor the "high-risk contacts" twice a day, an increase from the prior guidance of once a day. They wore full protective gear, including hoods and gowns, as did the health care workers who greeted them.