The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ended its response to a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship, nearly two months after the virus claimed three lives.
According to information reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) subsequently confirmed that the response effort had reached a "successful conclusion."
"No sustained transmission of Hantavirus has occurred in the United States, and the monitoring period has ended with no individuals remaining under observation," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
The outbreak was linked to the Andes virus, a rare strain of hantavirus typically circulating in Argentina and Chile. The cruise ship departed from Argentina on April 1.
Eighteen U.S. citizens were aboard the MV Hondius in the Atlantic region when the outbreak occurred.
All U.S. citizens potentially exposed to hantavirus on the ship completed a 42-day monitoring period this past Sunday.
According to information from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, these individuals have returned to their home states after completing monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit.
No hantavirus cases have been reported in the United States. The CDC has repeatedly stated that the risk to the American public from this virus remains extremely low.
A coordinated response between the CDC and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) worked with foreign governments, surveillance services, and healthcare systems to address the outbreak, according to an HHS statement.
"The successful conclusion of this response demonstrates the strength of coordination when facing infectious disease threats that occur outside our borders," said CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya in a statement.
Hantavirus spreads primarily through rodents, infecting humans via contact with rats or their urine, droppings, and saliva. The virus can become airborne during cleaning of contaminated areas.
The Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to spread through prolonged close human-to-human contact.
CDC scientists recently returned from Argentina, where they worked with local public health officials to investigate the outbreak, according to Brendan Jackson, acting director of the CDC's Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.
Jackson told reporters on a call that scientists trapped and tested rodents in areas linked to the cruise ship's itinerary, aiming to trace the outbreak's source.
Preliminary results from rodent samples have been negative, Jackson said, adding that the likely source of exposure remains under investigation.
