US CDC concludes hantavirus response as outbreak eases

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday that it has concluded its response to a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship, nearly two months after the virus caused three deaths.

The agency said all U.S. citizens potentially exposed aboard the MV Hondius in the Atlantic have completed a 42-day monitoring period as of Sunday. No cases have been reported in the United States.

“No sustained transmission of hantavirus occurred in the United States, and the monitoring period has concluded with no individuals remaining under observation,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. The development was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The outbreak involved the Andes virus, a rare strain of hantavirus that typically circulates in parts of Argentina and Chile. The cruise ship departed from Argentina on April 1.

All 18 U.S. residents who had been aboard the affected vessel have since returned to their home states after completing monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit, according to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

CDC officials have repeatedly said the risk to the U.S. public from the Andes virus remains extremely low. Hantaviruses are primarily spread through rodents, with humans typically infected through contact with urine, droppings, or saliva, often when contaminated particles become airborne during cleaning.

The Andes virus is the only known hantavirus strain capable of limited human-to-human transmission through close and prolonged contact.

CDC scientists recently traveled to Argentina to work with local health authorities in investigating the outbreak’s origin. Their work included trapping and testing rodents in areas associated with the cruise ship’s route.

Preliminary laboratory results from the rodent samples all tested negative for the virus, according to CDC officials, who said the likely source of exposure remains under investigation. -Reporting by Akanksha Khushi and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru, Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Jonathan Ananda and Deepa Babington/Reuters