Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, A Passenger From The MV Hondius Cruise Ship Who Had Previously Tested “faintly Positive” For Hantavirus

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, a passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship who had previously tested “faintly positive” for hantavirus, has now tested negative and has been moved out of a Nebraska biocontainment unit, U.S. media. The development marks a significant shift in the monitoring of Kornfeld, an oncologist from Oregon who was initially placed in strict isolation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center UNMC after inconclusive and then faint positive test results for the rare virus. Kornfeld had been the only American passenger from the MV Hondius outbreak placed in a high security biocontainment unit, following concerns raised by early test results and his exposure while assisting sick passengers during the voyage. Medical staff later confirmed that his most recent tests came back negative, allowing him to be transferred out of the isolation facility into standard quarantine monitoring. He was among more than a dozen U.S. passengers evacuated to Nebraska after the outbreak was detected on the expedition cruise ship, which has been linked to multiple infections and several deaths. Health officials have been monitoring passengers under strict quarantine protocols due to the risk profile of the Andes strain of hantavirus involved in the cluster. The Nebraska facility, part of the U.S. national high-level containment system, has been overseeing the care and observation of exposed passengers as part of a coordinated public health response involving the CDC. Kornfeld had previously described experiencing flu-like symptoms during the voyage but has since said he is now feeling well, with no current symptoms reported. His move out of biocontainment is being viewed as a positive sign in the broader containment effort, though officials continue to monitor other passengers still under quarantine. Public health authorities maintain that the overall risk to the general public remains low, while continued testing and observation of all exposed individuals is ongoing.