Two people with NH addresses were aboard cruise ship linked to hantavirus

The state's health agency says two people with New Hampshire addresses traveled on a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak. Neither person is in New Hampshire right now, according to a news release sent Monday afternoon from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.

"... We are actively communicating with our federal partners to assess whether [the two people] will be returning to the state in order to coordinate appropriate monitoring to ensure their health and that of the public," the state agency said. "There is no current health risk to residents, and we will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

Hantaviruses are usually spread through contact with wild rodent droppings, urine and saliva, according to DHHS. The type of hantavirus on the cruise ship, called Andes virus, can be spread from person to person through prolonged contact with someone who's sick, the news release said. People aren't considered infectious unless they're showing symptoms.

The risk of hantavirus to the general public "remains very, very low" and the Andes variant "does not spread easily," Brian Christine, Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a news conference Monday.

Three people on the cruise ship, the MV Hondius, have died and others are showing symptoms, according to CNN. Most American passengers were brought to the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska, while two others were taken to a containment unit at Emory University in Georgia.

— Staff report, Keene Sentinel

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