AFP | Saturday 09 May
The United States is arranging an evacuation flight for American passengers aboard a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak that has sailed to the Canary Islands.

The State Department said Friday it is coordinating with the Spanish government and other federal agencies to support the safe return of American passengers on the ship.

Officials are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance when the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain.

The ship operator said 17 Americans are onboard, though the State Department did not confirm the number.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius – a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman – have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person, has been confirmed among those who tested positive.

The ship is due in Tenerife on Sunday.

The flight will take American cruise passengers to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and then to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The CDC said the risk to the American public remains extremely low.

Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said US citizens will be cared for in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit.

The individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness, they said in a statement.

The World Health Organization said the United States is among 12 countries with nationals who have already left the ship on the remote British island of Saint Helena on 24 April.

American passengers will be taken to quarantine unit in Nebraska for
monitoring.