- A patient previously held in a biocontainment unit after exhibiting mild hantavirus symptoms has tested negative and has been released to a standard monitoring unit.
- The individual was among 18 passengers evacuated from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which is currently the epicenter of a rare hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives globally.
- While several U.S. states are tracking passengers who disembarked from the vessel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that the overall risk to the general public remains low.
US health officials provided a critical update on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, regarding the ongoing response to the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius.
Eko Hot Blog reports that during a press briefing, the CDC confirmed that a symptomatic patient at Georgia’s Emory Hospital tested negative for the virus’s dangerous Andes variant.
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Another patient, previously thought to be “mildly positive” based on an inconclusive overseas test, has been moved out of the specialized biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center while awaiting definitive results from local laboratories.
Currently, 15 asymptomatic individuals remain under observation in the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska, while health officials across various states continue to trace others who may have been exposed during the cruise.
The hantavirus, which is typically transmitted to humans via contact with infected rodents, has infected ten people worldwide during this recent surge.
Three of those cases resulted in fatalities, prompting the swift evacuation and isolation of American passengers as they returned from the Spanish Canary Islands earlier this week.
Despite the high-profile nature of the evacuations, the CDC’s incident manager, David Fitter, emphasized that the situation is being managed through rigorous “biocontainment and monitoring” protocols.
The incident has cast a shadow on the cruise industry, particularly with the MV Hondius becoming a “focal point” of international health concern.
Authorities expect to have more clarity on the remaining suspected case within twenty-four hours, as specialized testing for high-consequence infectious diseases continues.
