Some passengers on the cruise with hantavirus outbreak are back in California – NBC Bay Area

The California Department of Public Health said it has been notified by the CDC of California residents who were on the cruise ship near South America that had passengers infected with the hantavirus.

“We are coordinating with local health officials, as needed, to monitor returning travelers. There is no information that the California residents are ill or infected,” a department spokesperson said, adding that it can’t share the travelers’ residences.

“At this time, the risk to public health in California is low,” the spokesperson said.

This comes as news spreads that at least seven people who were on that cruise have now returned to the United States. The hantavirus has killed three people and sickened five others on the cruise ship.

The ship has continued sailing with its remaining passengers. Stephen Kornfeld, a doctor from Oregon, is a passenger on the cruise ship. He said that when the ship’s doctor fell ill, he began helping out by treating patients on board.

“I just sort of fell into the role of ship physician as people deteriorated and more people got sick,” he said.

Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease faculty and attending physician at Stanford, explained that Hantavirus is most commonly spread from rodents to humans.

“Typically, you need to be near either urine or feces of a rodent that is infected, and then you would need to be breathing that in in a very closed space,” he said.

He noted that the Andes strain of the Hantavirus that was detected on the cruise ship is the only strain that is known to spread between humans. The Andes strain is typically found in South America.

UCSF Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong joined NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai to talk about the hantavirus outbreak and what to expect.

Karan said that, unlike COVID-19, he does not believe there will be widespread public transmission of Hantavirus.

“The risk is extremely low of anyone in California coming into contact with– you know — the return travelers who’ve come back here, particularly because it’s been a very coordinated effort with the California Department of Public Health,” Karan said, noting that public health officials will be tracking the impacted passengers from this cruise.