11 May 2026
Hantavirus has been confirmed in a passenger on an American cruise ship bound for America.
One of the 17 American passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus.
That’s according to a spokesperson for Nebraska Medicine.
The passengers are expected to arrive in Nebraska Monday morning after being evacuated on a compensation flight from Spain’s Canary Islands.
“One traveler will be taken to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival,” Kayla Thomas said.
This person “was tested positive for the virus but [does] “I don’t have any symptoms,” she said.
Other travelers will go to a national quarantine unit managed by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The 20-bed facility is the only federally-funded quarantine unit in the United States.
According to the unit’s website, rooms “have individual negative air pressure systems, are single occupancy with en-suite bathroom facilities, and include exercise equipment and WiFi connectivity for patients requiring longer stays.”
Other US travelers will not be required to quarantine
Earlier, a top US health official had said that travelers would not necessarily be kept in isolation.
Acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Jay Bhattacharya told CNN on Sunday that, after being taken to the specialized center in Nebraska, “we will interview them and assess the risk … if they have been in close contact with someone who had symptoms.”
After this evaluation, Bhattacharya said, travelers “will be allowed to remain in Nebraska if they wish, or if they wish to return home, and their household situation allows it, they will be allowed to safely travel home without exposing other people along the way.”
In any case, the travelers will remain under observation by health officials for several weeks, he said.
Bhattacharya said the same protocol was followed during an outbreak of “this exact strain of hantavirus” in 2018, which was successfully controlled.