90-Second Read: Two Texans finish 42-day Hantavirus quarantine without infection

The two people in Texas who were in quarantine after exposure to Hantavirus aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius have successfully completed their 42-day quarantine without becoming infected. Since 1993, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking the Sin Nombre Hantavirus, the U.S. has had 890 cases and 49 of them have been in Texas, according to 2023 statistics, the latest available. Health workers get off the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, a cruise ship carrying nearly 150 people with three passengers who died and several others who fell seriously ill with Hantavirus.

Public health officials say two Texans monitored after exposure aboard a cruise ship did not become infected. Deer mice, found almost everywhere in North America, are carriers of Hantavirus, which causes a rare but potentially fatal syndrome. This Andes strain of Hantavirus caused the death of three people tied to the ship.

Unlike the Sin Nombre Hantavirus cases in the United States, the Andes strain can pass from person to person, not just through contact with infected rodents or their urine or droppings. Even with non-Andes Hantavirus, the disease gets attention because of its death rate: An estimated 35% to 40% of people infected die from the disease. It means it is unlikely for the disease to spread in Texas from this ship outbreak.