ATLANTA — Two people exposed to hantavirus on a trans-Atlantic cruise ship are now being treated and monitored at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The two patients are among 18 Americans who returned to the United States after the outbreak connected to the cruise ship. Most are being monitored at a facility in Omaha, Nebraska, while two were sent to Atlanta for treatment at Emory on Monday.
Doctors at Emory said one patient was showing symptoms before leaving the Canary Islands, while the second patient had close contact with the first but has not shown symptoms.
“One individual was deemed to be symptomatic on evaluation prior to leaving the Canary Islands,” Dr. Aneesh Mehta said.
“We did a very thorough assessment, we provided them any medications that they needed,” Mehta added.
The patients are being treated in a specialized infectious disease unit at Emory that also treated Ebola patients more than a decade ago.
“We have been prepared for patients with serious medical diseases for many many years,” Mehta said.
Health officials stressed that the risk to the general public remains low.
“There was someone that was found that had some symptoms that were consistent with hantavirus, but these are very broad symptoms and we wanted to do a very conservative effort,” CDC official Dr. David Fitter said.
“So this is very different from a respiratory virus,” Fitter added.
Officials said two Georgians who were on the cruise ship are also being monitored at home, bringing the total number of people in Georgia who may have been exposed to four.
Investigators with the World Health Organization believe the outbreak may stem from a Dutch couple on board the ship who came in contact with wildlife carrying the virus before boarding. The couple later died from their infections.
Health officials said three of the nine people who tested positive in connection with the outbreak have died.
The virus can be deadly when left untreated, with the fatality rate estimated at about 40% for people who develop respiratory symptoms.