Eighteen Americans are now in quarantine in two federal centers after having returned home from the MV Hondius cruise ship. <\/p>\n
How long they\u2019ll stay in quarantine or where isn\u2019t clear yet. Now that the passengers have had time to rest up, U.S. health officials are interviewing them to get a better sense of how close the American passengers may have been to infected people \u2014 and whether they have the resources, such as separate rooms, to quarantine safely at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to do this in the least restrictive way possible,\u201d Dr. Brendan Jackson, acting director of the high-consequence pathogens and pathology division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a media briefing Monday. <\/p>\n
It can take up to 42 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear. If passengers are allowed to leave the federal quarantine centers and stay home instead, they would need to be symptom-free. They\u2019d also need to check in with local health officials regularly, Jackson said. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeventeen Americans returned to the U.S. Monday after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Andes strain is the only hantavirus that can spread from person to person. While there are some reports of people\u2019s catching it through casual contact, most scientists that say it doesn\u2019t spread easily and that there\u2019s no clear proof that people are contagious before they have symptoms. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no evidence of sustained community transmission outside of close contact settings, no evidence of efficient airborne spread in public spaces and no recommendation for general travel restrictions,\u201d Dr. Bobbi S. Pritt, chair of the division of clinical microbiology at the Mayo Clinic, said Tuesday at a briefing by the College of American Pathologists.<\/p>\n
Eleven cases of hantavirus are reported among the nearly 150 passengers. Three people have died. <\/p>\n
Sixteen of the 18 Americans are at the National Quarantine Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Two are in a quarantine facility at Emory University in Atlanta. One of the quarantined people in Atlanta has had mild symptoms but tested negative for hantavirus. None of the other passengers in Omaha or Atlanta have tested positive. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUCSF Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong joined NBC Bay Area\u2019s Raj Mathai to talk about the hantavirus outbreak and what to expect.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and former professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said a strict quarantine is a \u201csmall price to pay\u201d to prevent more cases and potential deaths. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you could prevent one fatality, that\u2019s worth quarantining the whole ship,\u201d Mina said. <\/p>\n
More Andes cases are expected<\/p>\n
Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Medicine, said having passengers quarantine at home \u201copens up unnecessary risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens if they go home to quarantine and they start to get sick? Now you have to transport them to a center that has a biocontainment unit, which very few do,\u201d Karan said. \u201cHaving people go back home doesn\u2019t seem to make very much sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr. Zoe Weiss, director of clinical microbiology at Tufts Medical Center, talks about the illness that left dozens of people stuck on a cruise ship.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already acknowledged that additional cases could occur, given the virus\u2019 long incubation period. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s possible we will see more cases within the next few weeks,\u201d he said at a media briefing. The WHO recommends<\/a> that people who quarantine at home remain separated from family members in different rooms. If a physical interaction with another person is necessary, passengers from the ship should wear N95 respirators. <\/p>\n How other countries are handling quarantines <\/p>\n Zimbabwe\u2019s health ministry<\/a> said its citizens from the cruise ship will \u201cremain together in a designated private isolation facility during the quarantine period.\u201d<\/p>\n Health officials in the United Kingdom<\/a> and the Netherlands<\/a>, however, said some passengers may isolate themselves at home as long as they can do so safely. <\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHantaviruses are a family of viruses which can cause serious illness and death, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n