The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have issued a message to the public as more than a dozen of the Americans who were trapped on a cruise ship with a deadly disease return to US soil.
US health officials are urging calm as 17 American cruise ship passengers make their way back to the United States following concerns about hantavirus exposure. At least one traveler who got off the ship in Tenerife, Spain, ahead of a return flight on Sunday night is confirmed to have hantavirus, and two passengers were transported home in a biocontainment unit.
Authorities said the heightened precautions were taken out of “an abundance of caution,” after one person tested positive and another reported mild symptoms. With the world still mindful of the recent Covid pandemic, some people have worried the situation could escalate into a broader outbreak.
On Sunday, acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya spoke with CNN’s Jake Tapper to address those fears.
“This is not COVID, Jake, and we don’t want to treat it like COVID.”
The incident centers on suspected and confirmed infections linked to the Andes virus, a strain of hantavirus associated with severe illness and a potential fatality rate that can reach about 50 percent. It is also notable because it is the only hantavirus known for human-to-human transmission under certain conditions.
Bhattacharya said the CDC is following established response steps that have worked in the past, emphasizing that the goal is to protect public health without stoking unnecessary alarm.
“We don’t want to cause a public panic over this. We want to treat it with the hantavirus protocols that we – that, again, were successful in containing outbreaks in the past. And so we followed those protocols.
“This health alert is coming up because, again, there’s this discrete event of the 17 arriving in the United States very, very soon. And so we just want to make sure that the medical community understands this.”
Rather than immediately returning to their communities, the 17 Americans are expected to be transported to Nebraska, where they will be evaluated at the National Quarantine Unit.
Even with at least one active case returning to the country, Bhattacharya said the public should not assume this situation resembles Covid in how it spreads.
“The key message I want to send to your audience is that this is not COVID. This is not going to lead to [that] kind of outbreak.
“We shouldn’t be panicking when the evidence doesn’t warrant it.”
He also explained that risk depends largely on close contact with someone who is actively sick, which is why health teams focus on identifying who was near symptomatic individuals.
“The risk is a high risk if they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic,”
He added that the agency will use exposure history to sort returning passengers into risk categories for monitoring and care.
“If they weren’t in close contact with someone who was symptomatic, then we’re going to deem them a low risk. If they were in close contact, we’re going to deem them a medium or high risk.”
The first passenger linked to the outbreak has been identified as Dutch man Leo Schilperoord, who reportedly visited a remote landfill in Argentina known to be infested with rats. He and his wife were said to be hoping to see Patagonian birds that frequent the area, but the trip allegedly led to exposure through rodent droppings, making him “patient zero” in this chain of events.
Experts note that Andes hantavirus cases are uncommon. Microbiologist Dr Gustavo Palacios told CNN there have been only around 3,000 recorded cases.
Andes virus is largely found in South America and is associated with a high case-fatality rate commonly cited between 20 and 40 percent. It can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a serious condition that affects the lungs. Research has also suggested that when person-to-person spread occurs, it is most likely around the time fever develops and may happen even with relatively brief proximity in certain circumstances.
Symptoms start one to eight weeks after infection and the first signs can include:
Fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, chills, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain.
Later symptoms include:
Cough and shortness of breath as the lungs become affected, which can worsen rapidly and require urgent medical care.