Seventeen American passengers aboard a cruise ship hit by a deadly Hantavirus outbreak are expected to disembark in the Canary Islands this Sunday before being transported to Omaha, Nebraska for mandatory quarantine.
The outbreak, which began after the ship left Argentina in April, has already resulted in three deaths and multiple confirmed infections.
Although most of the hantavirus is spread through rodents, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that this cluster involves Andean virus, the only strain known to spread through person-to-person contact.
Former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden highlighted the environmental hazard, noting that cruise ships are unique because of their limited space and shared ventilation, which facilitate the spread of microbes.
Health officials in Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia are currently monitoring passengers who disembarked before the ship was isolated. Because it can take up to six weeks for symptoms to appear, the CDC has classified the reaction as level three, indicating a low risk to the general public.
“This is an outbreak on cruise ships. Cruise ships are very unique environments. People are literally in close proximity to each other, the ventilation is not ideal, there are a lot of things that are touched by many people at the same time, they are difficult to clean properly, and that’s why we see a lot of microbes spreading on cruise ships,” said former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden.
“This particular strain of hantavirus is quite deadly. That’s not to say this isn’t the next pandemic. Hantavirus is not set up to cause a pandemic like, say, COVID was at this point, and there’s nothing to indicate it’s on its way to doing that,” added Dr. Frieden added.
The cruise ship will dock in the Canary Islands next Sunday. Upon arrival, 17 U.S. passengers will disembark and be transported to a specialized facility in Omaha, Nebraska, for quarantine.
To date, no cases of this Hantavirus strain have been reported in Nevada. UNLV researchers, who are currently tracking COviD-19 variants through wastewater, confirmed that Hantavirus is not yet included in their active testing panel.
Experts note that since the virus is excreted through urine, it is theoretically possible to detect it in wastewater systems if testing is expanded.
