US health officials order quarantine for 2 passengers from cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. health officials said Tuesday they have issued quarantine orders for two passengers from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak who are now at a hospital in Nebraska.

The orders were signed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the CDC said in a statement.

Quarantine orders, which can be enforced with fines and prison time, are a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. All 18 passengers at the Nebraska hospital had been asked to stay at the facility through May 31, part of their monitoring period, according to the CDC.

On a call with reporters, the CDC's Dr. David Fitter said there were no hantavirus cases among the returned U.S. passengers.

But symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, said Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

“I'm certain that 42 days is starting to feel very long for those who are in quarantine, but the incubation period is what is setting that time period,” she said.

The CDC statement said three additional cases of hantavirus have been identified — one each in France, Spain and Canada — since the passengers left the ship.

The World Health Organization said last Wednesday that a total of 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported, including three deaths. Eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. But the hantavirus that has caused the current outbreak, called the Andes virus, may be able to spread between people in rare cases. The risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low, according to public health officials.