Hantavirus outbreak: 11 cases confirmed from ship | FOX 10 Phoenix

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:01]There's been a slight uptick in HANA virus cases connected to that outbreak on a cruise ship last month.

[00:00:08]>> The World Health Organization is now reporting 11 total cases. That's including three deaths. Passengers from multiple countries now quarantining as health officials around the world are working to prevent the spread. Fox's Kaylee Skyler joins us now from Omaha, Nebraska, home to the National Quarantine Unit. So Kaylee, is it possible that we see more cases pop up?

[00:00:31]Well, John and Christina, the director general of the World Health Organization says that could happen because the virus has a 42-day incubation period, but there is a strict plan. Sorry, guys, it's really windy out here. There is a strict plan in place for those who are quarantining.

[00:00:47]>> All suspected and confirmed cases have been isolated and managed under strict medical supervision, minimizing any risk of further transmission.

[00:01:01]18 passengers landed back in the US yesterday after the crews docked at the Spanish Canary Islands over the weekend.

[00:01:07]Of those, 16 are staying here at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the other two are at a facility at Emory University in Atlanta. Two people are currently in bioontainment units.

[00:01:18]One passenger here who has tested positive for HANA virus and another in Atlanta who is experiencing symptoms but has not tested positive. And we're told the rest are asymptomatic. Now, several states are watching people for potential symptoms, and health experts say they're monitoring these folks for a couple of different reasons. Some are passengers of the cruise who got off the ship in late April and are already back home.

[00:01:40]Others were exposed during a flight with a passenger who was infected. And this map also includes the 18 passengers quarantining at medical facilities in Atlanta and here in Nebraska. Now, these people will remain under strict medical supervision for the next couple of days.

[00:01:54]Then those who do not test positive or show symptoms will have the option to isolate at home.

[00:02:00]>> If anybody leaves under the total quarantine period, which is 42 days, they are placed into uh PPE completely protected and then escorted by the federal government into uh charter protected uh transport. No one's going on the street. No one's going to dinner in Nebraska or visiting the zoo. It's just not going to happen.

[00:02:25]Global health officials are receiving criticism for even allowing the passengers and the crew to get off the ship. But the director general of the WHO says it would have been inhumane to make them stay on the ship for the whole entire quarantine period. And he maintains that the risk to the general public remains