American passengers exposed to hantavirus arrive back in US
Health officials provided new details Monday after 16 American passengers exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship arrived in Nebraska.
The passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship landed in Nebraska early Monday. According to FlightAware, the Boeing 747 operated by Kalitta Air took off from Tenerife, Spain and landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha just before 2:30 a.m. local time.
One of the passengers on board tested positive for hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, and another had mild symptoms, U.S. health officials said late Sunday. Sister station KETV in Omaha reports the passenger with hantavirus was separated from the others on board for treatment.
The one passenger who tested positive for hantavirus will stay at the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
"We assessed that individual, they are doing well actually," Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, said. "They currently do not have any symptoms, and have a good appetite, although they're very tired, understandably."
Officials said they will continue to monitor the passenger who has tested positive.
"I'm really proud of how our team responded and how we all came together to execute this very complicated transfer of multiple different individuals into these different units," Hewlett said.
Officials said two passengers were taken for monitoring in Atlanta, including the passenger who was showing symptoms.
All other passengers will be monitored in the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center will assess whether the the patients have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.
Officials said the passengers could be monitored either at home or in the hospital for up to 42 days.
“One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,” said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine hospital that will help care for the passengers.
Video above: Passengers exposed to hantavirus land in Omaha
The medical school also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients.
A French woman evacuated from the cruise ship tested positive for hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said Monday.
She was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris from the MV Hondius.
Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks had escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife in an effort that was continuing Monday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak. “This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic," he said Sunday.
Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier were infected.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.