Overview
- Health agencies report roughly nine confirmed Andes hantavirus infections and three deaths tied to the M/V Hondius cruise ship, with a few additional suspected cases under review.
- The CDC issued federal quarantine orders on May 19 for two Americans and is monitoring 18 repatriated U.S. passengers at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska.
- The agency issued a May 18 clinical alert advising doctors how to test for Andes and other hantaviruses and instructing immediate reporting of suspected cases to local health departments.
- Oceanwide Expeditions says evidence points to an infection introduced before embarkation while Argentine scientists from the Malbrán Institute are trapping rodents around Ushuaia to test for the virus, with results expected in about a month.
- WHO and other experts say the risk to the general public remains low, but the confined ship setting has triggered legal quarantine use, raised tourism and travel concerns, and spurred rapid misinformation online that complicates public communication.