Eighteen Americans evacuated from a cruise ship after possible exposure to hantavirus are being closely monitored by health officials, as authorities maintain the risk to the public remains "very, very low".
Officials say one passenger aboard the Dutch vessel MV Hondius has tested positive for the Andes virus - a rare type of hantavirus - while another is showing mild symptoms.
More than 90 passengers of the cruise ship, currently docked in Spain's Canary Islands, are being repatriated.
The positive result marks the first confirmed case involving an American passenger. Two people are being monitored in Atlanta, while 16 others are in Nebraska at the nation's only national quarantine unit.
"No-one who poses a risk to public health is walking out the front door onto the streets of Omaha," Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said at a press conference alongside health officials on Monday morning.
