California, Arizona residents in quarantine after hantavirus

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(The Center Square) - Four California residents and one Arizona resident are in quarantine after potential exposure to an outbreak of a rare hantavirus disease that stemmed from a cruise ship. 

None of the Southwestern residents, who were passengers on the MV Hondius (now on its way to the Dutch city of Rotterdam), have shown symptoms of the disease. But state officials said they would remain under quarantine for up to 42 days.

“The risk to the general public is extremely low right now,” California Public Health Director Erica Pan told reporters Tuesday. She added that the disease has been documented to spread human-to-human under close contact. “We are learning more and more about this cruise ship outbreak, which is certainly concerning and unique, but it's a relatively small cruise ship with very close quarters. It certainly seems like a lot of close contact has actually happened on that ship.”

As the roughly 150 passengers onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship sailed from Argentina to the Canary Islands between April 1 to May 10, the hantavirus spread, and two passengers died while on the cruise. One was suspected to have had the virus, and the other was confirmed. A third passenger, married to the first passenger who died, later died with the disease after leaving the ship. The World Health Organization said 11 global cases had been reported by passengers.

The Andes hantavirus is typically contracted by exposure to rodent feces or urine, such as mice. Human-to-human spreading of the disease has been documented in rare cases, according to the WHO.

“CDC has responded to hantavirus outbreaks before, and we understand how Andes virus behaves,” said Melissa Dibble, a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

“Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person," Dibble told The Center Square in an email. "This type of spread is rare and is usually limited to people who have close contact with a sick person.”

The Andes hantavirus is part of the larger hantavirus group, which is considered to be a relatively uncommon group of diseases with an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 global cases annually. Fewer than 1,000 cases have been reported in the U.S., according to the WHO. There are no targeted treatments or widely available vaccines for the disease according to the CDC.

Because the Andes hantavirus usually takes between 1-8 weeks for symptoms to first show, passengers and people otherwise potentially exposed have been placed in quarantines around the world.  

The one Arizona resident currently under quarantine was onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship along with three of the California residents, none of whom have been confirmed to have the Andes hantavirus. The fourth California resident briefly sat one row away on an airplane from somebody confirmed to have Andes hantavirus, according to Pan.

“Out of an abundance of caution, across the world, we are really trying to make sure we're monitoring people who might have had contact,” said Pan.

Two of the California residents were under close monitoring by the CDPH in their homes, according to Pan, while the other two were in a specialized quarantine center in Nebraska along with 14 other Americans.

With the World Cup coming to California and North America this summer, Pan said the CDPH, local health departments and the CDC have extensively planned for health threats. But Pan added, “So far this situation with the cruise ship and its hantavirus outbreak has not impacted our World Cup planning.”