The United States is beginning the evacuation of 17 American citizens from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which has become the focus of an international investigation into a hantavirus outbreak. The announcement was made by the U.S. State Department.
After medical screening and confirmation that they show no symptoms, the passengers are expected to be transferred by boat to Tenerife, near where the vessel is currently located. From there, they will be flown on a special charter to a hospital in Nebraska that houses a biological containment unit.
U.S. authorities plan to place the evacuees under specialist observation to rule out the possibility of further spread of the virus.
Hantavirus has traditionally been considered an infection transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents, their excretions, or contaminated dust. Human-to-human transmission is generally not observed.
However, the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius has intensified concerns that the Andes virus strain linked to the incident may also spread directly between people. Isolated cases of such transmission had previously been documented in South America.
One of the episodes drawing particular attention from epidemiologists occurred in Spain. According to Reuters, a 32-year-old woman from the province of Alicante became ill after a flight during which she had been seated two rows behind a Dutch passenger who contracted the virus aboard the cruise ship and later died in hospital.