There are 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius, which is expected to dock in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on May 8 that Americans aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak, will be sent to a quarantine center in Nebraska.
The Dutch-flagged cruise ship, which has 17 Americans onboard, is expected to dock in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10, according to tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions.
The CDC said it will send a team of epidemiologists and medical personnel to the Canary Islands to conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American aboard the ship.
They will then be evacuated on a U.S. medical repatriation flight to Offut Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, before being transported to the national quarantine center at the University of Nebraska, it said.
“The U.S. government’s top priority is the safe repatriation of American passengers,” the CDC said in a statement.
The health regulator said it is closely monitoring the outbreak linked to the MV Hondius and determined that the risk to the American public remains low.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update that there are eight suspected or confirmed hantavirus cases from the ship, including three deaths. Six of the cases were confirmed as Andes virus infections, a rare hantavirus strain that can spread between humans.
Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) said on May 8 that the Americans being monitored following the outbreak aboard the ship have not shown any symptoms of illness so far.
UNMC said it received a request from federal partners for the institution to receive and monitor the American passengers from the MV Hondius. They will undergo quarantine at the facility to allow for careful observation and prevent any potential risk of the virus spreading, it stated.
Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement that his teams are “prepared for situations exactly like this.”
