AILSA CHANG, HOST:
OK. Eighteen Americans have returned to the U.S. after several weeks on the cruise ship that got hit with a hantavirus outbreak. They flew overnight from the Canary Islands on a flight arranged by the U.S. government, and for now, they're staying in specialized facilities for observation, for treatment and to make sure that they don't spread the virus. NPR's Pien Huang is here with the latest. Hi, Pien.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK. I feel like so much has happened in just the last 24 hours. How are these people doing? Do we know?
HUANG: So they are very tired. That's according to the team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that's taking care of most of them. And they range in age from their late 20s to their early 80s. They arrived early this morning, and most are in good condition.
CHANG: Good.
HUANG: So there are 16 that are staying on in Nebraska. Most have their own quarantine rooms, which are air-handled rooms. That means the air is filtered and separate from the rest of the building. And this is for people who don't have any symptoms and haven't tested positive for the virus.
Now, there is one person who tested mildly positive for the virus. That's according to health officials. And while that person feels fine, they are staying in one of the center's higher-level biocontainment units. Here's Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska.
JEFFREY GOLD: Quarantine is sort of like a very well-managed, air-handled hotel room, and the biocontainment unit is like a very well-managed, air-handled intensive care unit.
HUANG: There were two other passengers that went on to Atlanta. It's a couple in which one person has symptoms. Both are now in biocontainment at Emory University, which is next to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters.
CHANG: And how long will people be staying at these medical facilities?
HUANG: It's kind of unclear. I mean, definitely for a few days and maybe up to 42. And that's because this particular strain of hantavirus has a long incubation period, and it can take up to 42 days for symptoms to show. Dr. Brendan Jackson at CDC says all the passengers will be monitored for that duration, but after an initial assessment, some might be doing it from home. He says it will depend on the individual.
BRENDAN JACKSON: Do they remain symptom-free? But then also, do they have all the structures and support to be able to continue that period at home - making sure that they can isolate in a separate part of a structure from anybody else, make sure that they can contact their health department, get tested, if necessary, if they develop symptoms.
HUANG: Now, Ailsa, there were seven new passengers from the U.S. that had gotten off the ship at an earlier stop. This was after a passenger had died but before the outbreak was identified. And according to CDC, none of them currently have any symptoms, and they're still checking in daily with their state health departments.
CHANG: OK. That's good news. Pien, can you just tell us a little more about the hantavirus because I feel like I still don't really understand what this is?
HUANG: Yeah, sure. So broadly speaking, hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illness and death. And this particular strain, the Andes virus, does spread between people, and it can cause symptoms common to a lot of illnesses like fever, fatigue, chills, aches. In its later stages, it can become deadly, and we've seen that in this situation. Three cruise ship passengers have died from it. But it doesn't tend to spread too easily between people. It's not measles or COVID. But here, it has spread between a couple, between people who shared a cabin and also to the ship doctor who cared for patients.
CHANG: And what did health officials say about the risk to the general public at this point?
HUANG: Well, in the U.S., they've said that it's been low, and it remains very low, and they're keeping track of everyone who's been on the ship.
CHANG: That is NPR's Pien Huang. Thank you, Pien.
HUANG: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
