2 Passengers Test Positive for Hantavirus as a Third Shows Symptoms

SPAIN – A French woman and an American tested positive for the Hantavirus, as nations around the world scrambled to repatriate passengers and quarantine or isolate them.

Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes on Sunday, after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands.

It is the first-ever outbreak of the rare hantavirus on a cruise ship, according to the World Health Organization’s Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness.

So far, three passengers have died, but health authorities continue to stress that the risk to the broader public is low.