American passengers on a cruise ship that has experienced an outbreak of hantavirus could be headed to Nebraska.
CNN reported Friday that the American passengers on the MV Hondius will be put on a charter flight and sent to Omaha to be quarantined at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. UNMC is home to both the federally funded National Quarantine Unit, as well as the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.
In a statement to Nebraska Public Media News, UNMC and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine, declined to confirm the news but did say they are ready to assist.
“Nebraska Medicine and UNMC remain in close coordination with national partners regarding the evolving situation with the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship,” Nebraska Medicine said in a statement. “We cannot discuss specific communications at this time, but, our specialized teams, including the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and National Quarantine Unit, are staffed and ready, if needed, to safely provide care while protecting our staff and the community.”
So far, eight passengers have been confirmed to have hantavirus, a respiratory illness linked to rodents that usually isn’t transmissible between humans. Three of those people have died.
CNN reported there were 17 Americans on the cruise, although it’s not clear if that number includes seven passengers who disembarked earlier and have already returned home. Those people are being monitored and so far have not shown any symptoms of the disease.
The facilities at UNMC have been used in the past to quarantine COVID-19 patients as well as two doctors infected with Ebola virus in 2014.