Health officials have identified another California resident who was exposed to the deadly hantavirus strain that spread on a Dutch cruise ship and killed three people.
This brings the total count of exposed Golden State residents to five, all of whom are currently asymptomatic, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The newly identified passenger disembarked the MV Hondius cruise ship before the outbreak was known, returned briefly to California and then once again traveled abroad. The individual is currently in the Pitcairn Islands. Located in the South Pacific roughly halfway between New Zealand and Peru, the islands are one of the most remote and sparsely populated places on Earth.
The individual’s health is being monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as British health officials as the islands are a British Overseas Territory.
Two of the exposed Californians are quarantined at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The remaining two are in Santa Clara and Sacramento counties, where they are in contact with local public health officials.
Among the cruise ship’s passengers, there have been 11 confirmed cases of the Andes virus, a strain of hantavirus that’s transmitted from person to person, and three of those cases have been fatal, according to the World Health Organization.
Hantavirus is initially contracted by humans through inhalation of particles contaminated with the urine, feces or saliva of a rodent. It can lead to the development of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a disease that attacks the lungs and is fatal in nearly 40% of people infected, according to the CDC.
The total number of people potentially infected by the Andes strain remains unclear because the incubation period — the time it takes between exposure to the virus and the onset of illness — is up to six weeks.
The cruise ship set off on its journey around the Pacific from Argentina on April 1, and the first infected passengers died on board on April 11. The outbreak was not officially identified until May 2.
Times staff writer Karen Garcia contributed to this report.
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