No Americans have tested positive for hantavirus tied to cruise ship outbreak, CDC says

Federal health officials say no one in the United States has tested positive for hantavirus following an outbreak linked to a cruise ship.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday it is monitoring 41 people nationwide who may have been exposed to the virus, including 16 additional individuals the agency had not previously disclosed.

Officials said those being monitored have been advised to stay home and avoid contact with others for at least 42 days following their potential exposure. The CDC maintains the risk to the general public is “extremely low.”

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Eighteen passengers from the cruise ship linked to the outbreak are now being monitored at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The two passengers who were being cared for at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta were transferred to Nebraska after being cleared to transition to the National Quarantine Unit.

A doctor who treated patients aboard the ship was released from a special biocontainment unit in Nebraska after officials determined he did not have the virus.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that there have been eight laboratory-confirmed cases of hantavirus worldwide and three deaths linked to the outbreak.

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This outbreak has been linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, which can spread from person to person through very close contact and the exchange of bodily fluids.

Symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches, cough and shortness of breath. There is no FDA-approved treatment for the virus, and care is generally focused on managing symptoms.