Santa Clara County Monitors Resident Exposed to Hantavirus on Cruise Ship
A resident of Santa Clara County, California, has returned home after being exposed to the Andes hantavirus while aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. The Santa Clara County Public Health Department, in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is monitoring the individual. The cruise ship, which was docked in the Canary Islands, experienced a hantavirus outbreak resulting in three fatalities and at least nine suspected cases. Despite the exposure, health officials, including Sarah Rudman, director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, have stated that there is no known risk to the public in the county. The CDC has also emphasized that the risk to the American public is extremely low. Hantavirus is a rare disease typically transmitted to humans through inhalation of particles contaminated with rodent excretions. 
