US Repatriates 18 Passengers from Hantavirus-Infected Cruise Ship
Officials correct initial passenger count and clarify testing results as ship evacuates to Canary Islands
The MV Hondius cruise ship, currently rocked by an unprecedented outbreak of the Andes hantavirus, has arrived in the Canary Islands off Tenerife and is undergoing a full evacuation. While thirty crew members will remain on board to return the vessel to Rotterdam, all passengers are being transported off the island on specially arranged repatriation flights coordinated by Spanish authorities, the World Health Organization, and national health officials.
US officials have repatriated 18 individuals to Omaha, Nebraska, for quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit on the campus of Nebraska Medical Center. This figure corrects an earlier statement by the Department of Health and Human Services which had cited 17 Americans; the final count includes 17 US citizens and one dual British/US citizen. Of these 18 people, 15 are asymptomatic and are housed in the standard quarantine unit.
Two individuals were flown in special biocontainment units to Emory University in Atlanta to preserve the limited capacity of the Nebraska facility. This group includes the passenger who tested "mildly positive" and a second person showing symptoms, defined by officials broadly to include minor issues such as nasal congestion. The person with the ambiguous test result is currently asymptomatic but remains in the biocontainment unit in Nebraska.
The World Health Organization currently classifies the US passenger's "mildly positive" result as inconclusive, awaiting confirmation before updating the case count. Officials suggest the term likely refers to a high cycle threshold value in a real-time PCR test, indicating ambiguous genetic material presence rather than a definitive infection. The test detects snippets of hantavirus genetic material, and faint signals appearing after 35 or more cycles may represent early infection, late infection, or contamination.
Three deaths have been confirmed in the outbreak so far, involving a Dutch couple and a German woman. Additionally, a new case has been identified in a French citizen who tested positive during the journey home, bringing the total outbreak tally to nine cases. Rodents have not been reported on the ship, suggesting the transmission may be human-to-human, a rare occurrence for the Andes virus which typically spreads via rodent droppings or urine.
The quarantine period for those exposed to the virus is 42 days from the date of exposure. While the 15 asymptomatic passengers in Nebraska will undergo detailed risk assessments, some may be able to return home early depending on their exposure levels and access to intensive care facilities at home. Meanwhile, six other American passengers who disembarked in April prior to the outbreak being identified are also being monitored by state health officials.
