A Bay Area resident was exposed to hantavirus while aboard a cruise ship at the center of a deadly viral outbreak that has drawn worldwide attention, public health officials confirmed Sunday.
A Santa Clara County resident was a passenger on the MV Hondius cruise ship and has since returned home to California, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
“At this time, there is no known risk to the public in Santa Clara County,” said Dr. Sarah Rudman, the county’s health officer and public health director.
Rudman said the department is monitoring and evaluating the returning traveler in coordination with the California Department of Public Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The department did not say when the traveler returned to the Bay Area or whether the person was experiencing symptoms, noting it could not release further details due to medical privacy laws.
The state health department said protocol includes daily temperature checks, assessment for any symptoms and direction to modify activities.
Hantaviruses are carried by animals, typically rodents, but can spread to people through contact with rodents or their droppings.
The type of hantavirus usually found in the U.S. does not spread between people, but the version on the cruise ship — the Andes hantavirus — can jump from person to person through prolonged, close contact, Rudman said.
It is particularly likely to spread among household members or intimate partners, health officials said.
“That’s part of why the public health department is working closely with CDPH and the CDC to monitor the situation, support the returning traveler in our county and keep the public notified of any concern,” Rudman said.
The World Health Organization said there were eight hantavirus cases tied to the cruise ship as of Friday, including three patients who died. The cluster was first reported in early May as multiple passengers developed severe respiratory illness.
The remaining passengers and crew were evacuated Sunday from the ship while it anchored off Spain’s Canary Islands, according to the New York Times, with the U.S. working to secure the safe return of all American passengers.
The CDC said Friday that U.S. passengers would be put on a medical repatriation flight and taken to a quarantine center in Nebraska.
The state health department said a second California resident was still aboard the cruise ship as of Friday. The agency characterized the risk to the general public as “extremely low.”
Health officials believe the first person probably contracted the virus in Argentina before boarding the cruise ship, where it spread among passengers, according to the WHO.