Arizona health officials say the hantavirus does not pose a risk to the greater public
Officials from the Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed one passenger on board the MV Hondius cruise ship where three passengers died from hantavirus has returned home to Arizona. That person is being monitored by local health officials.
Hantavirus is a deadly illness usually spread to humans through rodents.
Nicole Witt with the Arizona Department of Health Services says human transmission is rare and unlikely from asymptomatic individuals.
“Exposure is for a symptomatic individual who is infected, and through close contact with a symptomatic infected individual, which the individual that's been returned to Arizona is not,” Witt said.
Witt said she could not share any personal information about the individual, including what part of Arizona they are in.
Dr. Joel Terriquez with the Arizona Department of Health Services said the risk for anyone in the community is very low.
“The one exception of hantaviruses would be what we're dealing with, which is Andes viruses,” Terriquez said. “And, even that there has been some rare human to human transmission. It can happen, and it will require very close contact with someone that is very symptomatic.”
Terriquez said the individual in Arizona remains asymptomatic, but they are being monitored for symptoms.
“Because we live in Arizona, we know that hantavirus has been around for years, and when we get news like this and when we hear person to person transmission, that will create some panic,” Terriquez said.
“So we we just want to make sure that the message is clear that even though there has been some cases and that CDC and the public health authorities are investigating that cruise ship transmission, we are still reporting that this situation is very low risk for the general public.”
Hantaviruses usually spread when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. While human cases are rare, small outbreaks have been documented around the world. But the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
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