OMAHA — A group of 17 currently healthy Americans from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship in the Canary Islands soon will be monitored at the Omaha-based University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The passengers will be isolated in the campus’ National Quarantine Unit — which UNMC said is the only federally funded unit designed specifically to safely house and observe people who may have been exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases.
A local medical team spoke at a news conference Friday afternoon, underscoring that none of the passengers headed to Omaha has exhibited symptoms of infection.
In individual hotel room-like chambers with negative airflow, each will be delivered food and have at their disposal exercise and daily living accommodations. The quarantine process allows for careful observation during the incubation period to reduce the risk of potential spread.
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“I want to make very clear these are individuals that were on this ship, that they have been potentially exposed but not known to be infected with hantavirus,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, an infectious disease specialist.
Should someone develop symptoms, she said that they’d be moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit to receive treatment ranging from clinical monitoring to critical care. That unit, activated in 2014 to treat American Ebola patients evacuated from Africa, has a voluntary staff of select nurses, doctors and infectious disease specialists.
Both quarantine and biocontainment units were activated locally in 2020 for the care and management of U.S. citizens from Wuhan, China, and from the Diamond Princess Cruise ship who were exposed to COVID-19.
Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said the UNMC and Nebraska Medicine team is “prepared for situations exactly like this” and is proud to support the national effort.
The request from federal agencies to help in the effort reflects trust in the Nebraska medical team, said Dr. H. Dele Davies, interim chancellor of UNMC, which also is working with the Douglas County Health Department and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
The Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions vessel that carried passengers from multiple countries is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife Sunday, with more than 140 passengers and crew members still on board. At least three passengers have died and several other people have been infected, according to media accounts. Some left the ship after the first fatality.
Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people.
Hewlett said the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship involved a more rare strain, the Andes virus, known for its capacity to spread from human to human. The World Health Organization has said the risk to the wider public is low.
There is no specific cure for hantavirus, according to Harvard Medical School. Early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. About half of those infected suffer dizziness, chills and abdominal problems. Coughing and shortness of breath can appear as lungs fill with fluid.
Officials who spoke to reporters Friday made distinctions between COVID-19 and hantavirus, which they said is not a new virus.
The two are “extremely different viruses with different transmission patterns,” said Hewlett, medical director of the biocontainment unit.
“You really need to be up close and personal with somebody” to transmit hantavirus, as opposed to COVID-19, which was airborne.
Also speaking at the event was Dr. John Lowe, director of the Global Center for Health Security, Dr. Michael Wadman, director of the National Quarantine Unit and Ashley Neilmeyer, director of public health for state DHHS.
This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.
