More passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship test positive

Three passengers, French and American, test positive as governments take extensive precautions for evacuees

A French woman and two American nationals evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said on Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued.

The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive”, said Health Minister Stephanie Rist.

One the 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive for the hantavirus but is not showing any symptoms, and another had mild symptoms, US health officials said late Sunday. The flight landed in the early hours of Monday morning and stopped near awaiting buses and police vehicles.

The Americans would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.

Three passengers from the ship, a Dutch couple and a German woman, have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

No vaccines or specific treatments exist for hantavirus, which is endemic in Argentina, where the ship set sail in April.