90-Second Read: Hantavirus outbreak: US cruise passengers to stop at Nebraska facility

Also, they need to be working with their departments of health … with regards to the nature around other activities." Bhattacharya said the agency is following the safety protocols previously used successfully during a 2018 outbreak of the same Hantavirus strain. The Hantavirus outbreak was first reported to the WHO on May 2 and remains a low risk to the general public, the organization says. Hoping to quell concerns before the passengers disembarked, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this Hantavirus outbreak is " not another Covid-19. The 17 US passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship will be evaluated by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff after disembarking in Tenerife, according to a CDC official. The facility is "the only federally funded quarantine unit in the.

But, a CDC official said the agency is not considering this a quarantine for the cruise ship passengers, but a brief visit to monitor their health. The passengers will not be tested for Hantavirus, as testing is not recommended for those without symptoms, according to a CDC official. As of May 9, three passengers, a Dutch couple and one German national, have died after contracting Hantavirus, according to WHO. The virus, typically associated with rodents, may have passed from human to human aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, according to the World Health Organization. This is everything we know about how the American passengers will get back to the United States and what will happen once they're home.

Once back in the US, the passengers will be brought for further assessment to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The goal, according to Nebraska Medicine, is to monitor the passengers during the virus' incubation period, which can last up to six weeks, and to reduce the risk of spreading the disease. Hantavirus typically spreads to humans through contact with rodent urine or droppings, though this strain, the Andes virus, can in rare cases spread person-to-person through very close, prolonged contact with an infected person. The CDC has classified its Hantavirus response as Level 3, the agency's lowest level of emergency, according to a person involved in the situation. None of the US passengers is experiencing symptoms so far.

As of May 8, there were eight total cases connected to the MV Hondius cruise ship, six lab-confirmed plus two probable cases. New Jersey said it is also monitoring two people who were exposed, and Utah reported that at least one passenger was from that state. The passengers will be given the option to go home after their assessment in Omaha if safety protocols allow, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Health officials reiterated the passengers will not be quarantined but will be advised to take certain precautions. Passengers were screened Sunday after the ship docked in Tenerife, and all were asymptomatic, according to Spanish health authorities.