Doctor on ship who helped care for passengers with hantavirus cleared to leave biocontainment unit isolation

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) - An Oregon doctor was cleared to leave a special biocontainment unit after a nasal swab he took on the cruise ship produced inconclusive results about whether he had hantavirus, according to the Associated Press.

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, a retired oncologist, helped care for sick passengers aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius after the ship’s doctor got severely ill.

Kornfeld told CNN Tuesday that he was isolated in a biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He said he had not experienced any symptoms while there.

“It’s still possible that the test represents an evolving disease, and I will get symptoms down the road. This is why I’m in the biocontainment unit,” Kornfeld said.

On Wednesday, the hospital announced that Kornfeld would join the 15 other Americans who were taken for monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit instead of the biocontainment unit.

While on board the ship, Kornfeld was tested for hantavirus. Two of his samples were sent to different laboratories in the Netherlands. One tested negative, while the other, he said, was “faintly positive.”

Earlier this week, he was awaiting results from a new test taken when he returned to the U.S.

“The initial test that we received was from abroad and it was inconclusive in its results,” Dr. David Fitter of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a total of 11 hantavirus cases linked to the cruise have been reported worldwide, including three deaths. Eight cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

Public health officials said all passengers returning to the U.S. will be actively monitored for symptoms for 42 days.

The risk to the general public from the cruise ship outbreak is low, according to public health officials.

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the MV Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases.