By Ahmed Aboulenein and Michael Erman
WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) – The White House and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are receiving daily briefings on the U.S. response to an Andes hantavirus outbreak that killed three people aboard a luxury cruise ship this month, a top health official said on Friday.
No cases have been reported in the United States and the risk to the general public remains very low, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya.
Forty-one U.S. residents are being monitored for possible infection, 18 of whom were passengers on the ship and returned to the United States before the outbreak was identified. They are now quarantined in Nebraska and Atlanta.
Some public health scientists have criticized the initial U.S. response to the hantavirus outbreak as sluggish. Kennedy has also drawn criticism previously for his handling of a measles outbreak.
“The Secretary is getting daily detailed updates, as is the White House, and I’ve participated in several of those. I can tell you firsthand, they’re both following this outbreak very, very closely,” Bhattacharya, who is also director of the National Institutes of Health, told reporters on a media call.
The CDC issued guidance for identifying and monitoring people with potential exposure, said Dr. David Fitter, the incident manager for the agency’s hantavirus response.
A person is considered high risk if they were on the ship between April 6, when the first person got sick, and May 10, when the last person disembarked, Fitter said.
Other high-risk contacts include those who reported close contact exposure to a person sick with hantavirus or their bodily fluids, or were seated in close proximity to a person sick with the virus during air travel, he said.
“I want to reinforce that Andes virus does not transmit easily,” he said, noting that it was spread through close, prolonged contact.
High-risk contacts should stay home and limit contact with others for six weeks, he said. They should also coordinate any essential travel with their state health department and be ready to self-isolate immediately if they start developing symptoms.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington and Michael Erman in New York; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
