Federal officials say the threat tied to a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship is over.
The announcement comes after the last exposed American passengers from the M/V Hondius completed a 42-day monitoring period.
No cases of hantavirus were reported in the U.S. as a result of the outbreak, which was linked to the Andes strain. Unlike most forms of hantavirus, the Andes strain can spread from person to person through close contact.
More than 140 passengers and crew members were exposed aboard the ship in May. More than a dozen infections and three deaths were reported in connection with the outbreak, none of them U.S. citizens.
RELATED STORY | RFK Jr. orders cruise passenger held in quarantine despite CDC recommendation
Admiral Bryan Christine, HHS assistant secretary for health, said the end of the monitoring period marks a huge win for public health.
“I think this is a real victory for the administration, a real victory for the Department of Health and Human Services, and a real victory for the American people in that we didn't have an outbreak here in the United States of the hantavirus,” Christine told Scripps News.
Some U.S. passengers were monitored at a facility in Nebraska after being repatriated. Others were allowed to finish the monitoring period at home with oversight from state and local health officials after remaining symptom-free for 21 days.
“I think it was the cross-agency collaboration,” Christine said. “In other words, you had from the federal government to state governments working together to local governments working together to make sure that we didn't have this Andes variant of the hantavirus get out amongst the American people.”
RELATED STORY | France confirms hantavirus in cruise outbreak is not new or more transmissible
The outbreak comes as federal health officials continue to monitor other global health threats, including the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Christine said communication and transparency are key to maintaining public trust during outbreak responses.
“We are trying to effectively communicate to the American people through forums like this what we're doing,” Christine said. “Our rationale for why we're doing things, we are communicating to the American people that our main focus with Ebola, for instance, is to keep that from getting into the United States.”
