FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Workers from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet the American passengers this weekend and take them to a special quarantine facility in Nebraska.
Despite protests, the boat will be allowed to dock outside a port in the Canary Islands. Seventeen Americans are on the ship where an outbreak of the hantavirus has killed three people. Health officials believe there is little risk to the general public because it is not as easily transmitted as the flu or covid.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
A metro Atlanta infectious disease specialist is watching the developments very closely. He told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen the disease is treatable if caught early.
Doctor Andrew Pugliese has treated infectious diseases for 33 years. On Friday, he was looking at images on a computer in his Forsyth County office.
“So what we’re seeing is the virus itself,” he said.
“Have you personally ever seen a case or treated a patient who had it?” Petersen asked.
“I have not,” Pugliese said.
“What does that tell you?” Petersen asked.
“That it’s rare,” Pugliese said.
It’s an airborne disease from rodent droppings, and it is fatal for up to 35% of people who get it.
“It usually causes a pulmonary syndrome, where you leak fluid into the lungs, and you can’t breathe,” the doctor said.
RELATED STORIES:
- CDC classifies hantavirus outbreak as Level 3 emergency
- The Latest: Stricken cruise ship heads for the Canaries as authorities rush to identify contacts
- Hantavirus outbreak: Another suspected case on remote island
International health officials say passengers aboard a cruise ship traveling from South America to Antarctica, to the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, probably picked it up during the first leg of the journey in Argentina.
Three have died, and several are sick. There were two passengers from Georgia.
The Georgia Department of Public Health says they are back home, currently in good health, and showing no signs of infection. As for several other Americans still aboard, the CDC will transport them to a special quarantine unit in Nebraska.
Pugliese says that’s a good call.
“Study these patients. Make sure this strain of the virus is not more contagious from what we’ve known from the past. Let’s nip this in the bud,” Pugliese said.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]