Today, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 100 personnel from the agency are actively working on monitoring passengers from the MV Hondius for hantavirus and are confident in the United States’ ability to control any further spread of the deadly rodent virus.
David Fitter, MD, incident manager for CDC’s hantavirus response, and Brendan Jackson, MD, MPH, CDC team lead in Nebraska, where most of the Americans who were aboard the ship are being monitored, emphasized in a press conference that, unlike COVID-19, hantavirus is a virus that has been studied for decades.
“Transmission from person to person is rare,” said Fitter. “I want to emphasize the risk to the general public is low.”
Today, the outbreak remains at 11 cases, nine of which are confirmed.
Despite assurances, several experts are warning that person-to-person transmission may not be as rare as previously thought, often citing a 2018 outbreak of hantavirus at a birthday party, also in Argentina. That event led to 34 confirmed infections and 11 deaths, all traced to the index patient, who contracted the virus after exposure to rodents.
42-day monitoring period began May 11
Fitter and Jackson gave few details about the Americans who were aboard the ship, only confirming that they are encouraging those housed in a Nebraska containment center to stay there for 42 days, with day 1 being May 11, the day they disembarked.
Fitter also addressed the American who was reported to have had a “mildly positive” hantavirus test earlier this week. He clarified that the test was taken on board and was inclusive. That passenger has identified himself as Stephen Kornfeld, MD, of Oregon, who said he treated sick passengers on the ship. Kornfeld, who is at the Nebraska biocontainment center, reports that he feels “wonderful” and remains without any symptoms of the virus.
The CDC officials also confirmed that the two Americans being monitored at Emory University have also tested negative for the virus.
Neither Fitter nor Jackson would say whether passengers who are testing negative for the virus could, at some point in the next 42 days, quarantine at home.
In other news, the French passenger being treated at a Paris hospital in intensive care worsened overnight and is now on an artificial lung machine.
Finally today, the Illinois Department of Public Health said it is investigating a potential hantavirus case in an Illinois resident not linked to the cruise ship. Instead, the person is believed to have contracted the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present.
“The resident lives in Winnebago County, has not travelled internationally, and has not come in contact with individuals associated with the MV Hondius outbreak. They are suspected to have acquired a North American strain of the virus while cleaning a home where rodent droppings were present,” the department said.
