The director general of the World Health Organization arrived in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday to oversee the disembarkation of passengers from a cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak, as health officials prepare to receive U.S. citizens at a quarantine facility in Nebraska.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X he would join senior government officials to supervise the departure of passengers from the polar expedition ship Hondius, expected to dock at the Canary Islands early Sunday. No additional passengers are showing symptoms, he said.
Spanish health officials outlined plans to repatriate passengers, saying in a briefing Saturday that the U.S. and Britain, along with several European countries, would send planes to evacuate their citizens, Reuters reported. U.S. passengers will be repatriated on a government flight to Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha where they will be transported to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Nebraska Medicine said the National Quarantine Unit — a federally funded facility that has previously received patients with Ebola and covid-19 — will house and monitor those who may have been exposed to the virus. Chief executive Michael Ash said his team is “prepared for situations exactly like this … People should know these facilities were specifically designed to prevent exposure to the public,” he added. “There is no risk to the community from people being cared for in these units.”
Tedros outlined the disembarkation process in an open letter to the people of Tenerife on Saturday in which he tried to assuage any fears of having the virus-stricken ship dock at the island.
“I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest,” he said in reference to the covid pandemic. “The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment.” Passengers would be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla and travel in “sealed, guarded vehicles, through a completely cordoned-off corridor” before being repatriated, he said. “You will not encounter them. Your families will not encounter them.”
WHO officials have repeatedly said the outbreak, in which three cruise passengers have died, poses a low public health risk, downplaying comparisons to the covid pandemic. “This is not the same situation we were in six years ago,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the director of epidemic and pandemic management at the WHO, speaking at a news conference Thursday, noting that this virus spreads very differently than covid or influenza.
Though the enduring images early in the pandemic were marked by travelers quarantined on cruise ships as the virus rapidly spread among passengers, officials said this is different. “We don’t anticipate a large epidemic,” said Abdirahman Mahamud, head of health emergency alert and response operations at the WHO.
In a statement Friday, the CDC said, “At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low.”
Hantavirus is normally linked to exposure to the urine or feces of infected rodents, but the Andes virus, the strain linked to the Hondius, is capable of limited transmission between humans, according to the WHO. Officials are working on the assumption the initial patients were infected off the ship, either before they boarded in Argentina or on an excursion.
The cruise operator said in an update Saturday that preparations for the arrival of the ship are being led by international authorities and the atmosphere on board is “positive.” Physicians from the WHO, the Netherlands and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control are on board conducting interviews with each person to assess their exposure and risks, WHO officials said.
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that “it’s very much, we hope, under control.”
The CDC announced Friday that it had deployed a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to the Canary Islands. The team will conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American passenger and provide recommendations for the level of monitoring required. An additional CDC team will deploy to the Nebraska air base to support the public health assessment of returning passengers.
Why this is different from covid?
Experts say because this strain of hantavirus typically requires prolonged contact or intimate contact, it is not as contagious as covid during the pandemic. The need for prolonged close contact makes it harder for it to spread widely and quickly, limiting the pandemic risk. They do point out, however, that being on a cruise ship means people are in closer proximity.
The Andes virus has an incubation period of up to six weeks, WHO officials have said. Flu-like symptoms arise, and eventually can develop into difficulty breathing, according to the CDC website.
There is no specific treatment or cure for hantavirus, but early detection can be vital to stave off severe complications or death. The WHO knocked down claims that ivermectin — which gained a following during the pandemic as a possible covid treatment despite research showing it is ineffective against the virus — was an effective treatment for hantavirus on Friday.
What happened?
A polar-rated expedition ship, the Hondius, set off from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a journey across the South Atlantic, with stops including Antarctica, South Georgia Island, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena and Ascension Island.
A Dutch man on board the ship developed a fever, headache and mild diarrhea on April 6. He died April 11 after developing respiratory symptoms. His wife, who was suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms and was still on the ship, later arrived at St. Helena, a remote island territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. She was flown to a hospital in Johannesburg, where she died April 26. Her case was confirmed as a hantavirus infection on May 4, the WHO said. Because they have died, key details about how they were exposed may never be known.
A German national has also died, while a British man is in intensive care in South Africa, and a Swiss man who departed the ship in late April was also confirmed to have the virus.
Anyone who is leaving their cruise ship room has been instructed to wear a mask, a WHO official said.
How many people has this impacted?
As of Saturday, eight cases of the hantavirus linked to the ship are suspected, with five cases confirmed by testing.
Global health authorities are working to monitor about 30 passengers from at least a dozen countries who have departed the ship — as well as two flights linked to an ill woman. Other contacts are also being monitored, including a Spanish resident who traveled on the same flight as the ill woman, and a Dutch flight attendant. There is also a suspected case in a British national on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, U.K. authorities said.
Some public health experts are concerned about the United States’ response capabilities, pointing to the country’s withdrawal from the WHO.
How have states and countries responded?
U.S. officials in at least six states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey — are monitoring symptoms of seven returning passengers and two others potentially exposed to the virus, according to state health officials.
None of the travelers have reported symptoms, officials told The Post on Thursday. Two passengers are in Texas and two are in Georgia, health officials said. On Friday, New Jersey’s health department said two residents were being monitored after “potential exposure occurred during air travel abroad,” but are also asymptomatic.
Virginia State Health Commissioner Cameron Webb said that a passenger who had already returned to the commonwealth was taking their temperature twice a day and in close contact with health officials about monitoring for possible symptoms.
Georgia’s public health department told The Post they are monitoring two Georgia residents who returned home after disembarking the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak.
“The individuals are currently in good health and show no signs of infection. They are following current recommendations from CDC,” said spokeswoman Nancy Nydam Shirek.
Adam Taylor, Sammy Westfall and Kendra Nichols contributed to this report.
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