WHO declares hantavirus outbreak over as last patient finishes quarantine

The World Health Organization declared the hantavirus outbreak over on Thursday after 60 days.

“Today, the final contact of a person exposed to hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius completed their quarantine period, tested negative and returned home. No further cases have been reported since the 25th of May,” WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

First reported on May 2, the Hantavirus outbreak stemmed from cases aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. Health officials suspected the passengers were exposed while on land during an excursion in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, though the exact exposure is still under investigation. The WHO suspected human-to-human transmission of hantavirus in this instance, indicating the outbreak was likely caused by the Andes virus strain, the only strain known to spread person-to-person.

The outbreak killed three people and infected 13 on the ship, with all of the passengers eventually repatriated in May for quarantine. In the United States, the 18 passengers who returned were quarantined for 42 days, with 16 staying at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, while the two others were quarantined in Atlanta.

The U.S. passengers had each finished their 42-day isolation periods on June 21.

Ghebreyesus said in a statement last week that WHO and local health officials checked in on over 650 contacts across 33 countries and territories throughout the outbreak.