Maryland Department of Health Monitors Two Residents Following Potential Hantavirus Exposure Linked to Cruise Ship Passenger The Maryland Department of Health is monitoring two Maryland residents who may have been exposed to hantavirus after a brief overlap with a cruise ship passenger infected with the virus during an international flight. Health authorities are taking these steps out of an abundance of caution. At this time, the risk to the public in Maryland remains very low. The two Maryland residents with potential exposures were not passengers on the M/V Hondius cruise ship. The potential exposure occurred during air travel abroad. The Maryland Department of Health will not release additional information about the Maryland residents to protect their privacy. Hantaviruses are a family of viruses carried by rodents and cases are known to occur in the United States. Although most diseases stemming from hantavirus are not known to spread between people, the disease associated with M/V Hondius passengers is the Andes virus found in South America. It is the only known hantavirus capable of person-to-person transmission, though such transmission is rare and generally requires close, prolonged contact with an infected individual or their bodily fluids. The incubation period ranges from four to 42 days and asymptomatic persons are not considered infectious. No hantavirus cases have been identified in Maryland since 2019. Andes virus infections have never been reported in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Health is coordinating closely across all levels of government, as well as with leading experts and medical facilities that have Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers. This is an evolving public health situation.#centers_for_disease_control_and_prevention #hantavirus #maryland_department_of_health #m_v_hondius #andes_virus
U.S. Health Officials Expand Hantavirus Monitoring to 41 People U.S. health officials have expanded their monitoring efforts for hantavirus to include 41 individuals, up from the initial 18 passengers linked to a Dutch cruise ship outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday that 16 additional people across the country are now being tracked for symptoms, though the agency did not specify their locations or details about their exposure. These new cases involve individuals who were passengers on an April 25 flight to Johannesburg and had contact with a Dutch woman infected with hantavirus, who later died. The CDC’s response leader, Dr. David Fitter, clarified that the 16 newly added individuals were not part of the cruise ship group but had been exposed to the infected woman during the flight. The woman, a 69-year-old Dutch national, was among those who disembarked from the cruise ship on April 24 in St. Helena, an Atlantic island. She returned to the U.S. via commercial flights on April 25 and was monitored by state health departments. However, she collapsed shortly after arriving in Johannesburg on April 26 and died on May 4, after her hantavirus infection was confirmed. The CDC emphasized that no confirmed cases of hantavirus have been reported in the U.S. as of Thursday. The agency is actively contacting all individuals potentially exposed to the virus, both within the country and abroad, to ensure they are monitored. Dr. Fitter stated that the CDC’s focus is on tracking anyone who might have been on the flight the infected woman took, highlighting the agency’s commitment to thorough contact tracing. The 18 passengers from the cruise ship who were brought back to the U.S. on Monday are currently quarantining at specialized facilities in Omaha and Atlanta.#cdc #david_fitter #dr_jay_bhattacharya #st_helena #hantavirus
