90-Second Read: Inside Nebraska quarantine unit monitoring Hantavirus cruise passengers

Americans evacuated from the cruise ship at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak are heading to a quarantine center in Nebraska where they will be monitored for symptoms. The Nebraska Medical Center also has a Biocontainment Unit, which will treat passengers who have been diagnosed with Hantavirus or are exhibiting symptoms, officials said. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on May 10 that each of the passengers will be assessed on whether they were exposed to someone with Hantavirus. Two of the American passengers, including one who tested positive for Hantavirus and another with mild symptoms, are traveling in the plane's biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution. Three people who traveled on the MV Hondius, a cruise.

The American cruise passengers are being transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. All passengers will be assessed when they arrive to the Nebraska, at which point their quarantine period will be determined, he added. In that case, passengers can choose to stay at the quarantine unit if they'd like. There, they will stay at the National Quarantine Unit, where they will be monitored for symptoms, officials said. The National Quarantine Unit is the only federally funded quarantine unit in the country, according to UNMC's website.

At least 10 people have been either confirmed or suspected to be infected, though that number could change after the final passengers are evacuated on May 11. Hantavirus is typically transmitted to people through contact with rodents' urine, feces or saliva. If the passengers have no symptoms and no contact with anyone symptomatic, they will be deemed low risk. Once home, passengers can report to state and local public health agencies, he added. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

We have protocols in the quarantine unit that provide for safe care of these of these persons, including just all the activities of daily living so that they can you know have a comfortable stay but also have it in an area that's protected and limits spread of the pathogen," Dr. Michael Wadman, director of the National Quarantine Unit, said at a May 8 news conference. The strain at the center of the outbreak has been confirmed as the Andes virus, which is believed to spread person-to-person, according to the World Health Organization. The center has 20 single occupancy rooms equipped with negative air pressure systems, en suite bathroom facilities and exercise equipment. They also have Wi-Fi for patients requiring longer stays, according to the center.