One American has tested positive for hantavirus and another is showing mild symptoms as the group of 17 passengers from the outbreak-stricken ship arrives home in Nebraska.
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What they’re saying:
The Department of Health and Human Services posted the update on social media, saying the two passengers traveled home in the plane’s biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.
What’s next:
Government officials and Nebraska medical experts will be holding a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday. You can watch in the video player above, or wherever you stream LiveNOW from FOX.
This story will be updated. Check back for more details.
The cruise ship MV Hondius anchors in the port of Granadilla waiting to refuel and receive the necessary supplies to travel to the Netherlands, on 11 May, 2026, in Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. The operation to evacuate the pa
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The backstory:
The group of 17 Americans are coming from the Canary Islands in Spain, where the cruise ship the MV Hondius anchored over the weekend for evacuation.
Passengers from more than a dozen other countries were also evacuated and flown home together.
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A French woman also tested positive after the weekend evacuation.
Three people have died.
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Hantavirus symptoms
Dig deeper:
Hantavirus symptoms can feel a lot like the flu. Fever, chills, muscle aches and maybe a headache are common.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which can cause the lungs to fill with fluid, usually presents between one and eight weeks after exposure to an infected rodent. The Andes strain, which is confirmed in this outbreak, shows symptoms within six weeks, WHO officials said.
The other syndrome caused by hantavirus — known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which can cause bleeding, high fever, and kidney failure — usually develops within a week or two after exposure.
There is no treatment or cure for hantavirus, but medical experts say early diagnosis can increase the chance of survival.
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What they’re saying:
WHO officials continue to assert the risk to the general public is low.