Nebraska, May 15:
An oncologist on a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak has been cleared to leave a special biocontainment unit in Nebraska after initially being placed in strict isolation for monitoring.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld of Bend, Oregon, was among more than 120 passengers and crew evacuated from the ship and transferred to different countries for quarantine.
He was taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha along with 15 other Americans, but unlike the others, he was placed in a high-level biocontainment unit after an inconclusive nasal swab raised concerns about possible infection.
Hospital officials later confirmed that he will be moved out of the isolation unit and will instead join the other Americans in a standard National Quarantine Unit for continued monitoring.
Kornfeld had previously reported flu-like symptoms on the ship, including fatigue, chills, and night sweats, but later said he was symptom-free and “feels wonderful.”
The World Health Organization reported 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise globally, including three deaths, with eight cases confirmed by laboratory testing. It also said this is the first known hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.
Health authorities noted that transmission risk to the general public is low, as hantavirus is usually spread through rodent droppings and rarely spreads between humans, though the strain involved may have limited human-to-human transmission in rare cases.
The WHO recommended a 42-day quarantine for passengers and crew. The U.S. CDC said test results for the doctor were inconclusive due to conflicting international lab findings, with one test positive and another negative.