CDC monitoring – After additional testing, the CDC says there are no known hantavirus cases in the United States. At the same time, officials are monitoring at least 41 people across 16 states for possible exposure, while quarantined passengers are told to stay isolated for th
Hope for a quick containment in the United States got a lift on Friday after the CDC reported no known hantavirus cases as officials continued to track people with potential exposure.
The change came after another round of testing of patients at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where the CDC said results showed no confirmed cases. The update reduces what had been a worry that the virus might have taken hold on U.S. soil.
Even as the count clears, the CDC’s concern hasn’t fully gone away.. Federal officials said they are monitoring at least 41 people across 16 states who may have been exposed to hantavirus.. Of those. half are isolating at home. while the rest are being watched in medical facilities in Omaha and at two other centers in Atlanta and Kansas City.
That monitoring includes the only American previously reported to test positive.. Dr.. Stephen Kornfeld of Oregon had been identified after testing aboard the MV Hondius. but a second test taken on the ship came back negative.. The CDC said Kornfeld has remained asymptomatic since returning to the country on Monday.
Officials said the first test taken on the cruise was likely a false positive.. They also said Kornfeld does not have antibodies to hantavirus. meaning he was likely never exposed to the virus or become ill with it.. Kornfeld was initially being treated in a biocontainment unit in Omaha. and he has since been moved into a quarantine unit shared with about 15 others.
In addition to Omaha, two other passengers were being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
Because Kornfeld’s later negative test brought the U.S.. total of reported cases down to 10, attention has turned to where the illness is showing up elsewhere.. Globally. the outbreak has killed three people and sickened 11. and Canadian health officials said they are monitoring 36 people in isolation. including four cruise ship passengers. with no symptoms reported so far.
Doctors cautioned that negative results may not be the final word, telling quarantined patients that they could still test positive later. That is why CDC officials are urging people held in hospitals to remain there through hantavirus’s full incubation period of 42 days.
CDC hantavirus Omaha University of Nebraska Medical Center MV Hondius Stephen Kornfeld quarantine incubation period 42 days public health monitoring