Two Americans caught up in a hantavirus outbreak were put into biocontainment units for a dramatic repatriation flight. The rat-borne disease took hold on MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged vessel that left Argentina for Spain on April 1. It reached Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on Sunday night, before people from all over the world were repatriated on flights to their home countries and, in some cases, sent to third-party countries for isolation. Seventeen Americans “are currently en route via @StateDept airlift to the United States,” the Department of Health said on social media on Sunday night, adding that two of those people were “traveling in the plane’s biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.” The statement added: “One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus.” The Andes virus is a strain of hantavirus thought to be able to spread between people, unlike other strains of the disease. The people are being taken to a secure facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The passenger with mild symptoms is being taken to a second specially designed facility.
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