The risk from hantavirus to the general public remains very low, and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has more than 100 staff members actively working on the outbreak, a governmental health official said on Wednesday.
"To the American public, please know we are here to protect your health. Based on current information, the risk" to the general population remains low, Dr. David Fitter, the Incident Manager for the CDC's hantavirus response, said.
The CDC is conducting public health assessments on a site in Nebraska, where 16 of the 18 passengers from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak were flown to and quarantined on Monday, said Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC team lead in Nebraska.
The group had been aboard the MV Hondius, a luxury expedition cruise ship linked to an outbreak of the Andes virus, the only hantavirus species known to be capable of limited person-to-person spread.
One passenger who officials on Monday said had tested positive for hantavirus and was placed in a Nebraska biocontainment unit was later medically cleared to move to quarantine with the others.
The passengers are currently being monitored for hantavirus at U.S. medical facilities, including 16 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and two in Atlanta. One of the Atlanta patients is experiencing symptoms, officials said at a briefing.
Hantavirus is usually spread by wild rodents.
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Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
U.S. Central Command said 101 commercial vessels have been redirected in the Strait of Hormuz, while oil prices rose more than three per cent amid fresh regional attacks and supply concerns.
Swedes vote in an election on Sunday (13 September) that could see the far-right enter government for the first time if the country's right-wing parties can form a majority.
A Russian strike on a farm warehouse in Pryluky, north-central Ukraine, has killed at least three people, local police said. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said an attack on a train near the Polish border was an attempt to intimidate Ukraine's allies.
Tobacco use may significantly reduce fertility in both men and women, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) publication that highlights growing evidence linking smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke with reproductive health problems.
A record-breaking heatwave that swept across western Europe in late June has been linked to more than 10,000 excess deaths, according to newly released mortality data, highlighting the growing human toll of extreme temperatures across the continent.
Authorities in Nigeria's Ondo State have launched an investigation after 24 people died and several others were hospitalised following the consumption of a locally produced herbal drink in communities in the country's southwest.
A new study has found that baby girls exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy had, on average, smaller ovaries and uteruses and fewer ovarian follicles than those whose mothers did not take the painkiller.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are facing growing pressure as the virus spreads to new areas faster than treatment capacity can be expanded.
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