Home / Health / Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak: Passengers Evacuated
Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak: Passengers Evacuated
9 May
Summary
- A cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak is heading to Tenerife for passenger evacuation.
- Nearly 150 passengers, including 17 Americans, will be evacuated and flown to Nebraska.
- Hantavirus can be deadly, with a fatality rate up to 50% in the Americas.
A U.S. emergency response is underway as a cruise ship afflicted by a deadly hantavirus outbreak approaches Tenerife, a Canary Island. The vessel will evacuate nearly 150 passengers, among whom are at least 17 Americans, before their return to various home countries.
Global health authorities are facilitating the transfer of asymptomatic passengers to a secure, isolated area in Tenerife. From there, they will proceed to a cordoned-off section of the local airport for transport. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is dispatching a team to meet the Americans.
Upon arrival in the United States, the repatriated passengers will be flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. They will subsequently be moved to the National Quarantine Unit at Nebraska Medical Center for an undetermined period of quarantine. This facility has prior experience with biocontainment.
Hantavirus infections, though rare, are often fatal, with a fatality rate reaching up to 50% in the Americas. Six cases have been confirmed on the ship, with three deaths reported. The virus's incubation period can extend up to six weeks, prompting ongoing monitoring of passengers who have already disembarked.
