A Santa Clara resident is being monitored by local health officials after they returned home after being exposed to Andes hantavirus as a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The person is at home, feeling well and reporting no symptoms of hantavirus at this time, Santa Clara’s public health department said on Monday. The 42-day monitoring period is being conducted in coordination with the California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I want to reassure the public that the risk of contracting Andes hantavirus in Santa Clara County remains extremely low,” said Dr. Sarah Rudman, the county’s health officer. “I understand that the news of an exposed individual in Santa Clara County is causing stress and worry. However, the safety protocols we have in place for the exposed individual, and our very close coordination with state, federal, and national disease experts responding to this outbreak, reassure me that we have a plan to respond to this event while protecting members of our community.”California health officials on Monday said that four Californians in all are being monitored. The others include two other cruise ship passengers who were evacuated to the University of Nebraska after the ship docked in the Canary Islands, and a Sacramento County resident who was briefly sitting near a passenger who was taken off a plane in South Africa and tested positive for the virus.California health officials have stressed that everyone they have identified as being possibly exposed is healthy. Public health protocols include daily temperature and symptom checks and “direction to modify activities.” The risk to the general public in California is “extremely low,” CDPH said.How many people have been infected?Three people have died so far as part of the outbreak and at least six others with confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases are being quarantined, The Associated Press reported on Monday. The newest cases included a French woman who tested positive and was being treated at a Paris hospital, and an American without symptoms who tested positive and was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit. 18 Americans are flown to the U.S. In all, 16 American passengers were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to be monitored. Two other Americans, a couple, were taken to a medical facility at Emory University in Atlanta. One of them had mild symptoms and would be tested for hantavirus. States that previously said they were monitoring seven passengers who previously disembarked include California, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. CDPH said California was assisting with the national response to the cruise ship outbreak by fast-tracking clinical testing capacity for Andes hantavirus samples at its Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory.What is hantavirus and the Andes virus?People can become infected by hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva, according to the CDC.The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. Argentina’s health ministry said there were 28 deaths from hantavirus last year, up from an average mortality rate of 15 in the five years before that. Nearly a third of cases last year were fatal, it said.Symptoms for Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome can show up one to eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent.According to the CDC, early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. About half of patients also experience headaches, dizziness, chills and abdominal problems.The CDC says that 38% of people who develop respiratory symptoms may die from the disease.CDPH stresses that transmission of Andes hantavirus has come after “close, prolonged contact with an ill infected person.”Past hantavirus cases in California CDPH said there have been 99 California residents who have been diagnosed with hantavirus, from 1980 to 2025. None were from Andes hantavirus, which is found in the southern Andes region of Argentina and Chile. Instead, the California cases were all from Sin Nombre hantavirus, which is not associated with person-to-person contact as Andes hantavirus can be.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google. –The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Santa Clara resident is being monitored by local health officials after they returned home after being exposed to Andes hantavirus as a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The person is at home, feeling well and reporting no symptoms of hantavirus at this time, Santa Clara’s public health department said on Monday.
The 42-day monitoring period is being conducted in coordination with the California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I want to reassure the public that the risk of contracting Andes hantavirus in Santa Clara County remains extremely low,” said Dr. Sarah Rudman, the county’s health officer. “I understand that the news of an exposed individual in Santa Clara County is causing stress and worry. However, the safety protocols we have in place for the exposed individual, and our very close coordination with state, federal, and national disease experts responding to this outbreak, reassure me that we have a plan to respond to this event while protecting members of our community.”
California health officials on Monday said that four Californians in all are being monitored. The others include two other cruise ship passengers who were evacuated to the University of Nebraska after the ship docked in the Canary Islands, and a Sacramento County resident who was briefly sitting near a passenger who was taken off a plane in South Africa and tested positive for the virus.
California health officials have stressed that everyone they have identified as being possibly exposed is healthy.
Public health protocols include daily temperature and symptom checks and “direction to modify activities.”
The risk to the general public in California is “extremely low,” CDPH said.
How many people have been infected?
Three people have died so far as part of the outbreak and at least six others with confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases are being quarantined, The Associated Press reported on Monday.
The newest cases included a French woman who tested positive and was being treated at a Paris hospital, and an American without symptoms who tested positive and was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit.
18 Americans are flown to the U.S.
In all, 16 American passengers were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to be monitored.
Two other Americans, a couple, were taken to a medical facility at Emory University in Atlanta. One of them had mild symptoms and would be tested for hantavirus.
States that previously said they were monitoring seven passengers who previously disembarked include California, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Virginia.
CDPH said California was assisting with the national response to the cruise ship outbreak by fast-tracking clinical testing capacity for Andes hantavirus samples at its Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory.
What is hantavirus and the Andes virus?
People can become infected by hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva, according to the CDC.
The Andes virus is the only type of hantavirus that is known to spread person-to-person. Argentina’s health ministry said there were 28 deaths from hantavirus last year, up from an average mortality rate of 15 in the five years before that. Nearly a third of cases last year were fatal, it said.
Symptoms for Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome can show up one to eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent.
According to the CDC, early symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches. About half of patients also experience headaches, dizziness, chills and abdominal problems.
The CDC says that 38% of people who develop respiratory symptoms may die from the disease.
CDPH stresses that transmission of Andes hantavirus has come after “close, prolonged contact with an ill infected person.”
Past hantavirus cases in California
CDPH said there have been 99 California residents who have been diagnosed with hantavirus, from 1980 to 2025. None were from Andes hantavirus, which is found in the southern Andes region of Argentina and Chile.
Instead, the California cases were all from Sin Nombre hantavirus, which is not associated with person-to-person contact as Andes hantavirus can be.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google.
–The Associated Press contributed to this report.