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Hantavirus live updates: 41 people under monitoring across US
Sixteen ship passengers are being monitored in Nebraska's quarantine unit.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship stands at 10, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
Sixteen American passengers arrived on Monday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Fifteen of those passengers were being monitored in a quarantine unit and another, who had initially tested positive, was in a biocontainment unit, officials said. Later, that person tested negative and was medically cleared to go to the quarantine unit.
Two other American passengers were flown to Atlanta for "further assessment and care," officials said.
Key Headlines
- 12 quarantined staff members at Dutch hospital were not contagious to others, hospital says
- 41 people under monitoring for hantavirus across US, CDC says
- All close contact patients in France test negative, health minister says
- 3 in Kansas taken to hospital for observation after being exposed to hantavirus abroad
What is hantavirus and how does it spread?
Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:
What is hantavirus?
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.
How does hantavirus spread?
Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.
Read more about hantavirus here.
1 American positive for hantavirus, another symptomatic, HHS says
The Department of Health and Human Services released a statement on Sunday saying one American has tested positive for hantavirus as the plane with 18 MV Hondius passengers is headed to the U.S.
Two of the passengers on the plane are traveling in the aircraft's biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution," according to HHS.
The agency said that of the two, one passenger currently has mild symptoms and the other has tested PCR positive for the virus.
The plane is first going to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center before taking the passenger with mild symptoms to a second RESPTC, according to HHS.
"Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition," HHS said.
American flight takes off from Spain
The plane carrying 18 passengers, including 17 Americans and one British national who is a U.S. resident, that disembarked from the MV Hondius has departed Spain and is headed back to the United States.
American passengers arrive at Tenerife airport
The American passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius have arrived at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands.
A total 18 people will be on the American repatriation flight, including the 17 Americans and one British national who is a resident of the U.S., the Spanish minister of health told ABC News.
-ABC News' Maggie Rulli
American passengers disembarking from MV Hondius
The 17 Americans aboard the MV Hondius have begun disembarking from the ship.
As of Saturday, none of the American passengers had tested positive for the hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The aircraft that will return the Americans to the U.S. is expected to take off from Tenerife at 9:30 p.m. local time/4:30 p.m. Eastern time but could possibly depart earlier if circumstances allow, a source with the Spanish president's office previously told ABC News. It is not yet clear if or when that aircraft has landed in Tenerife.
The passengers will be flown to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, managed by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the only federally funded quarantine unit in the U.S.
During a press briefing Friday, officials with the National Quarantine Unit said there is not yet a defined period for how long the passengers would remain at the unit.
-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic, Aicha El Hammar and Maggie Rulli