State confirms North Carolinian quarantined after hantavirus-linked cruise

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - State officials confirmed one North Carolinian was aboard the cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said the passenger was evacuated from the MV Hondius to the University of Nebraska Medical Center with the remaining U.S. passengers.

Officials said there are no hantavirus cases in the state, and the risk remains very low. Federal officials will decide when passengers can return home. They will be monitored for symptoms for 42 days after their last possible exposure.

Hantaviruses can cause severe illness and spread through rodent urine, droppings, and saliva. The Andes virus, the strain linked to the cruise ship, is the only hantavirus known to spread person-to-person.

Hantavirus cases are extremely rare in North Carolina, with the state reporting one case in 1995.