U.S. health officials said Tuesday they have issued quarantine orders for two passengers on a cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak who are now in a hospital in Nebraska.
The orders were signed by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC said in a statement.
Quarantine orders can be enforced with fines and jail terms, a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. All 18 passengers at the Nebraska hospital were asked to remain at the facility until May 31 as part of their monitoring period, according to the CDC.
Dr. David Fitt of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters that no cases of hantavirus have been found among returning U.S. passengers.
But in previous outbreaks, hantavirus symptoms took up to 42 days to appear, said Jodie Guest, senior vice president of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
“I’m sure 42 days is starting to feel like a long time for those who are in quarantine, but the incubation period determines that period,” she said.
Three more cases of hantavirus — one each in France, Spain and Canada — have been detected since passengers disembarked, the CDC statement said.
The World Health Organization said last Wednesday that a total of 11 cases of hantavirus had been reported linked to the cruise ship, including three deaths. Eight cases were confirmed through laboratory testing.
Hantaviruses are usually spread when people inhale the remains of contaminated rodent feces. But the hantavirus causing the current outbreak, known as the Andes virus, may be able to spread from person to person in rare cases. Public health officials say the risk to the public from the cruise ship outbreak is low.
