In an update on the potential hantavirus exposure linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, public health officials confirmed Thursday that a passenger who initially returned an inconclusive “mildly positive” test result for the rare pathogen has now tested negative on two separate gold-standard assays.
The patient, who never developed symptoms of hantavirus infection, was first placed in a specialized biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) after the initial unclear result. As of Thursday, both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which detects viral genetic material, and serology testing, which identifies antibody responses to the virus, came back negative, UNMC media coordinator Kayla Thomas told AFP. The former asymptomatic patient has since been moved to a general quarantine unit at the facility, which is purpose-built to monitor people exposed to high-risk infectious diseases.
UNMC is currently monitoring 15 other asymptomatic MV Hondius passengers, all of whom remain under observation. Two additional people connected to the cruise, one of whom experienced potential hantavirus symptoms before returning a negative test result, are being monitored at Emory University Hospital in Georgia. All told, 18 passengers from the vessel are under clinical supervision in the two states, part of a larger group of 41 people across the United States being tracked by federal and local health authorities following possible exposure to Andes hantavirus, the only strain of the pathogen confirmed to spread between humans.
The remaining 23 people under monitoring include passengers who disembarked the MV Hondius and returned to their homes before the outbreak was detected, as well as air travelers who may have been exposed to infected individuals during commercial flights. The Kansas Department of Health also announced Thursday that three people who had high-risk close contact with a confirmed hantavirus case have been admitted to a University of Kansas hospital for observation, though the agency has not released further details on their conditions.
David Fitter, incident manager for hantavirus response at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), outlined strict protocols for all monitored individuals during a press briefing Thursday. “Everyone under monitoring stay at home and avoid being around people during the 42-day monitoring period. We emphasise not to travel across all these groups,” Fitter said, referring to the maximum incubation period for the virus.
Throughout the response, public health authorities have repeatedly stressed that the broader risk of widespread community transmission to the general American public remains low. As of the latest update, the global death toll linked to this hantavirus outbreak stands at three.