90-Second Read: Santa Clara resident monitored after returning home from Hantavirus-stricken ship

A Santa Clara resident is being monitored by local health officials after they returned home after being exposed to Andes Hantavirus as a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The person is at home, feeling well and reporting no symptoms of Hantavirus at this time, Santa Clara's public health department said on Monday. I want to reassure the public that the risk of contracting Andes Hantavirus in Santa Clara County remains extremely low," said Dr. Three people have died so far as part of the outbreak and at least six others with confirmed or suspected Hantavirus cases are being quarantined, The Associated Press reported on Monday. In all, 16 American passengers were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to be monitored.

CDPH said California was assisting with the national response to the cruise ship outbreak by fast-tracking clinical testing capacity for Andes Hantavirus samples at its Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory. CDPH said there have been 99 California residents who have been diagnosed with Hantavirus, from 1980 to 2025. Instead, the California cases were all from Sin Nombre Hantavirus, which is not associated with person-to-person contact as Andes Hantavirus can be. The risk to the general public in California is "extremely low. The newest cases included a French woman who tested positive and was being treated at a Paris hospital, and an American without symptoms who tested positive and was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center's biocontainment unit.

I understand that the news of an exposed individual in Santa Clara County is causing stress and worry. CDPH said public health protocols for that person include daily temperature and symptom checks and "direction to modify activities." State health officials also said last week that another Californian remained aboard the cruise ship and had not fallen ill. One of them had mild symptoms and would be tested for Hantavirus. None were from Andes Hantavirus, which is found in the southern Andes region of Argentina and Chile.

Two other Americans, a couple, were taken to a medical facility at Emory University in Atlanta. States that previously said they were monitoring seven passengers who previously disembarked include California, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Virginia.