An American physician who volunteered to treat passengers during a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship has been cleared to leave a high-security hospital room in Nebraska, where he was isolated after an inconclusive test result. Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, a passenger on the vessel, was among more than 120 people evacuated from the ship and flown to several countries for quarantine.
Kornfeld was one of 16 Americans taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center after a nasal swab taken on board returned unclear results for the virus. He was placed in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, a sealed facility designed to safely monitor or treat patients with highly hazardous communicable diseases. On Wednesday, hospital spokesperson Kayla Thomas confirmed that Kornfeld would now join the other 15 Americans being monitored at the National Quarantine Unit rather than remain in isolation.
“I feel wonderful, 100%,” Kornfeld told CNN in a video interview on Tuesday. Before being cleared to leave the unit, he described it as a comfortable hospital room. “It’s a little weird being in here by myself,” he said. “But the nurses come in, the doctors come in. I’m on WhatsApp all the time. It’s really amazing how quickly time flies.”
Testing Discrepancies and International Coordination
Kornfeld explained that the nasal swab taken on the ship was tested twice in the Netherlands, with one result coming back negative and the other positive. A further test was carried out after he arrived in the United States. “The initial test that we received was from abroad and it was inconclusive in its results,” said David Fitter of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday.
Two other Americans linked to the outbreak are being monitored at a specialist infectious disease unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. According to the latest World Health Organization data published on 13 May, there have been 11 cases linked to the cruise ship outbreak, eight of them confirmed, along with three deaths among passengers or crew. One case remains inconclusive and is undergoing further testing.
Passengers and crew have now returned to their home countries, where health authorities are continuing to monitor them. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the international evacuation and quarantine operation as a “success”. “All suspected and confirmed cases have been isolated and managed under strict medical supervision, minimising the risk of further transmission,” Tedros said.
The WHO recommends a 42-day quarantine at home or in a facility starting from the day of departure from the ship. The agency expects more cases to arise given the dynamics of spread on a ship and the virus’s incubation period, but warns that “at the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak.”
The outbreak has prompted the European Union to strengthen cross-border health protocols, as detailed in our earlier report. Meanwhile, a race to develop a hantavirus vaccine has intensified following the deadly incident. In a separate but related development, UK military medics were air-dropped to Tristan da Cunha over a hantavirus scare, highlighting the global reach of the virus.
