18 passengers return to U.S. after weeks on cruise ship hit with hantavirus outbreak : NPR

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

ALL RIGHT. Eighteen Americans returned to the United States after several weeks on the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak. They flew overnight from the Canary Islands on a flight organized by the U.S. government, and for now they are staying in specialized facilities to be observed, treated and to make sure they don’t spread the virus. NPR’s Pien Huang is here with the latest news. Hi Pien.

PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.

CHANG: Okay. I feel like so much has happened in the last 24 hours. How are these people? Do we know?

HUANG: So they’re very tired. That’s according to the team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which cares for most of them. And they range in age from their late 20s to early 80s. They arrived early this morning and most are in good condition.

CHANG: Good.

HUANG: So there are 16 left in Nebraska. Most have their own quarantine rooms, which are air-conditioned rooms. This means that the air is filtered and separated from the rest of the building. And that’s for people who don’t have any symptoms and haven’t tested positive for the virus.

Today, one person tested slightly positive for the virus. That’s what health officials say. And even if that person feels fine, they remain in one of the center’s higher-level biocontainment units. This is Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska.

JEFFREY GOLD: The quarantine is a bit like a very well-managed, air-conditioned hotel room, and the biocontainment unit is like a very well-managed, air-conditioned intensive care unit.

HUANG: There were two other passengers who went to Atlanta. This is a couple in which one person has symptoms. Both are now in biocontainment at Emory University, which is next to the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CHANG: And how long will people stay in these medical facilities?

HUANG: It’s not clear. I mean, definitely for a few days and maybe up to 42 days. And that’s because this particular strain of hantavirus has a long incubation period, and it can take up to 42 days for symptoms to appear. Dr. Brendan Jackson of the CDC says all passengers will be monitored for this duration, but after an initial assessment, some may do so from home. He says it will depend on each individual.

BRENDAN JACKSON: Do they remain symptom-free? But also, do they have all the structures and support necessary to be able to continue this period at home – making sure that they can isolate in a separate part of a structure from anyone else, making sure that they can contact their health department, get tested, if necessary, if they develop symptoms.

HUANG: Now, Ailsa, there were seven new passengers from the United States who had gotten off the ship at an earlier stopover. This was after the death of a passenger, but before the outbreak was identified. And according to the CDC, none of them are currently experiencing symptoms and they continue to check with their state health departments daily.

CHANG: Okay. This is good news. Pien, can you tell us a little more about hantavirus because I feel like I still don’t really understand what it is?

HUANG: Yeah, sure. Generally speaking, hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illness and even death. And this particular strain, the Andes virus, spreads between people and can cause symptoms common to many illnesses like fever, fatigue, chills and body aches. In its later stages, it can become fatal, and we have seen it in this situation. Three cruise ship passengers died. But it doesn’t tend to spread too easily between people. It’s not measles or COVID. But here, it spread between a couple, between people sharing a cabin and also to the doctor on board who treated the patients.

CHANG: And what have health officials said about the risk to the general public at this point?

HUANG: Well, in the United States, they said the rate was low and it remains very low, and they’re tracking everyone who was on the ship.

CHANG: That’s Pien Huang from NPR. Thanks Pien.

HUANG: You’re welcome.

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