Last passengers from hantavirus-hit ship evacuated; American tests positive

"US officials said 18 Americans are being quarantined and monitored for symptoms, as WHO insists risk to public remains low. The last two evacuation planes carrying passengers and crew from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have landed in the Netherlands, as a repatriated US passenger tested positive for the respiratory infection."

"The two planes carried 28 evacuees from the MV Hondius, which had been docked in the Canary Islands, including six passengers and 19 crew members, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. The passengers four from Australia, one from New Zealand, and one British resident of Australia are expected to stay in a quarantine facility near the Eindhoven airbase before they are repatriated."

"Their arrival caps a complex operation in which 94 people have been evacuated and repatriated to some 20 countries to enter a period of quarantine. It comes 41 days after the MV Hondius set off from southern Argentina and nine days after the first positive test result for the respiratory viral infection. Three people a Dutch couple and a German national have died since the outbreak of the hantavirus on the ship."

"Officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Monday that one of the 18 American passengers evacuated from the ship had tested positive in a biochemical unit in Nebraska. The officials said the infected person was being monitored along with 15 others at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, while two others, a couple, are at Emory University Hospital in the city of Atlanta."

Eighteen Americans are being quarantined and monitored for symptoms after evacuation from the MV Hondius, a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak. Two evacuation planes carrying passengers and crew landed in the Netherlands, bringing 28 evacuees from the ship docked in the Canary Islands. Six passengers and 19 crew members were aboard, including passengers from Australia, New Zealand, and a British resident of Australia. The passengers are expected to stay in a quarantine facility near the Eindhoven airbase before repatriation. The operation has evacuated 94 people to about 20 countries for quarantine. Three people have died since the outbreak began, and the Andes virus is typically rodent-spread with limited person-to-person transmission. One evacuated American tested positive in Nebraska and is being monitored, while others are monitored at medical centers in Nebraska and Atlanta.

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