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Authorities confirmed Thursday that some California residents were among the 147 passengers and crew aboard a luxury cruise ship hit by a suspected outbreak of hantavirus, which has killed three people and left several others seriously ill. <\/p>\n
California public health officials say they are currently monitoring the situation after being informed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that some residents of the state were passengers on the MV Hondius. However, the exact status of those individuals remains unclear. <\/p>\n
Hantavirus is a rare but deadly disease that attacks the lungs and is usually spread to humans through the inhalation of particles contaminated with the urine, feces or saliva of wild rodents. <\/p>\n
However, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said, This was confirmed on Thursday <\/a>Andes virus \u2013 a form of hantavirus that can spread from person to person \u2013 was involved in this outbreak. <\/p>\n Here’s what we know.<\/p>\n The MV Hondius cruise ship anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde on Wednesday. <\/p>\n (Mispar Apavu\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n As its name suggests, Andes virus is commonly found in South America. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius was on a 46-day voyage that left Antarctica, stopping in Argentina.<\/p>\n In the case of human-to-human transmission, a person would first be infected by contaminated particles from a wild rodent and then transmit the infection to someone else, said Dr. Gabby Frank, director of the Johns Hopkins Special Pathogens Center.<\/p>\n “In previous outbreaks of Andes virus, transmission between people has been associated with close and prolonged contact, particularly between household members, intimate partners and people providing medical care,” Ghebreyesus said. \u201cThat seems to be the case as it stands.\u201d <\/p>\n On April 1, 114 guests boarded the cruise ship in Ushuaia, Argentina. Twenty-three days later, 30 passengers \u2013 including six from the United States \u2013 disembarked at a stop in St. Helena, a remote island about 1,100 miles off the coast of Africa, according to the cruise operator. ocean expedition<\/a>. <\/p>\n Among those on board was a woman who was accompanying the body of her husband, who had died on 11 April while the ship was at sea in the Atlantic. The ship operator said that at the time, the man’s cause of death could not be determined. <\/p>\n The woman also became ill and died on 27 April. <\/p>\n Public health agencies in California, Georgia, and Arizona were informed by the CDC that some of their residents were among the passengers on the cruise. However, it is not clear whether these individuals disembarked from the ship on 24 April. <\/p>\n California Department of Public Health spokesman Robert Barsanti said the CDC is assisting local health officials in monitoring California residents aboard the cruise. the new York Times<\/a>. Barsanti did not disclose how many Californians the department is monitoring. <\/p>\n “There is no information that California residents are sick or infected,” Barsanti told The New York Times. “At this time, the risk to public health in California remains low.”<\/p>\n A public health spokeswoman did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Thursday.<\/p>\nCalifornia passengers on cruise<\/h2>\n