- The US government is deploying a specialized medical aircraft to evacuate 17 Americans from the MV Hondius, a cruise ship currently offshore near the Canary Islands following a fatal hantavirus outbreak.
- Upon arrival in the US, the passengers will be transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit for assessment and potential long-term quarantine.
- Spanish officials have refused to let the ship dock; instead, passengers will be offloaded country-by-country via small boats and transported directly to airport runways to prevent any contact with the public.
The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have activated a Level 3 emergency response to repatriate citizens trapped on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius.
Eko Hot Blog reports that he ship has become the focus of international health concerns following nine confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus, including three deaths.
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The outbreak is linked to the rare “Andes strain,” which is uniquely capable of human-to-human transmission.
Health officials believe the initial infection originated from a Dutch couple who had been bird-watching in South American regions known for the virus before boarding.
The evacuation process, coordinated with Spanish authorities, is designed to be “painstakingly safe.”
As the ship anchors off the coast of Tenerife, asymptomatic passengers will be moved in groups of five to waiting buses and then directly to medicalized planes US officials confirmed that the evacuees will land at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha before being moved to the University of Nebraska’s specialized facility.
Dr. Michael Wadman, the center’s medical director, noted that while each individual will have a private room with exercise equipment and WiFi, the exact duration of the quarantine remains undefined.
Despite the high-level response, global health experts are urging calm. Spain’s Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, and officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that the risk to the general population remains “very low,” as hantavirus does not spread as easily as respiratory viruses like COVID-19.
Currently, none of the 147 people remaining on board are showing symptoms. Once the evacuations are complete, the MV Hondius is expected to return to the Netherlands with a skeleton crew.
