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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n” data-action=subscribe> We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.<\/strong> <\/p>\nBack to Healio<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nKey takeaways:<\/h2>\n\nA hantavirus outbreak killed three passengers on a cruise ship and sickened several others.<\/li>\n The CDC released a statement saying its \u201ctop priority\u201d is the safety of U.S. passengers. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\nInfectious disease experts on Thursday criticized U.S. health officials\u2019 response to the hantavirus outbreak that killed three passengers on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not overstating this, it is a travesty,\u201d Infectious Diseases Society of America CEO Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH,<\/b> said in an IDSA press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAccording to WHO, three people aboard the MV Hondius have died and at least eight have been sickened by Andes virus, a type of hantavirus found in South America that can be transmitted person to person, but usually only through close contact, the CDC notes. There were 17 Americans onboard among the 147 passengers.<\/p>\n
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD<\/b>, MSc,<\/b> said Thursday that the ship was on its way to the Canary Islands after being anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, an island nation in West Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re confident in the capacity of Spain to manage this risk and we\u2019re supporting them to do so,\u201d Tedros told reporters. <\/p>\n
On the IDSA call, Marazzo and Healio | Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member Carlos del Rio, MD,<\/b> discussed what they have gleaned from reports on the outbreak while also expressing concern about what they characterized as a lack of communication from U.S. health officials.<\/p>\n
The first report of the outbreak aboard the ship came from WHO, which issued an outbreak alert on Monday and has posted frequent updates on social media, including the confirmation by scientists in South Africa and Switzerland that the illnesses were being cause by Andes virus.<\/p>\n
The first public acknowledgement of the outbreak by the CDC appeared to come late Wednesday in a statement posted online and sent to the media that said the agency was \u201cclosely monitoring the situation with U.S. travelers onboard\u201d the ship. <\/p>\n
The CDC classified the risk to the U.S. public as \u201cextremely low.\u201d WHO also classifies the global risk to be low.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur top priority remains the health and safety of all U.S. passengers. The Department of State is leading a coordinated, whole-of-government response including direct contact with passengers, diplomatic coordination, and engagement with domestic and international health authorities,\u201d the CDC said.<\/p>\n
The CDC also posted a statement on X from NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD,<\/b> who remains temporarily in charge of the agency. Bhattacharya said the CDC \u201cbegan coordinating with domestic and international partners as soon as we were notified of a hantavirus situation\u201d and \u201cprovided clear, written health guidance to the American passengers through the State Department.\u201d<\/p>\n
A CDC official told Healio that the agency \u201cis providing technical input and guidance as requested.\u201d But Marrazzo and de Rio questioned the response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have not been briefings from any U.S. government agencies that we would have expected to occur in a situation like this, including the CDC or NIH,\u201d Marrazzo said.<\/p>\n
Del Rio, distinguished professor of medicine and professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University, said it is “not uncommon\u201d for the CDC to deploy to an outbreak site to provide technical assistance, perform epidemiological tracing and conduct interviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutbreak investigation is what CDC does and what they do very effectively. So, I would have envisioned that many days ago we would have seen a team from the CDC deployed to the area and we haven’t seen that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also would have had a press briefing from the CDC. The CDC typically would put out something called HAN, the Health Alert Notice, and we haven’t seen a HAN related to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Del Rio continued, \u201cSo, a lot of the things that you would like to see, we haven\u2019t seen. And to me, that\u2019s very concerning. The silence that we\u2019re seeing from our premier public health institution is really concerning to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contacted by Healio, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon did not respond to Marrazzo and del Rio\u2019s claims that the CDC has been unresponsive to the hantavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n
Hantavirus spreads to humans through exposure to mouse or rat urine, droppings and saliva, according to the CDC. A bite or scratch from a rodent can also spread the disease, but this is a rare occurrence, the agency noted.<\/p>\n
Nearly 40% of people who develop respiratory symptoms related to hantavirus may die from the disease, according to the CDC. In the United States, more than 90% of cases occur west of the Mississippi. <\/p>\n
The primary cause of hantavirus illness in the U.S. is the Sin Nombre virus, which, unlike the Andes virus at the center of the current outbreak, is not known to be transmissible between people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risk to the general public is small, but I think the outbreak is an opportunity for us to learn a lot more about the transmission of the virus,\u201d del Rio said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Marrazzo said, because of the \u201chuge void right now\u201d in public health communication, the IDSA and other professional societies \u201cwill urgently fill that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sources\/Disclosures<\/h3>\n Source: <\/h2>\n \nPress Conference\n<\/p>\n
References:<\/h2>\n\nCDC. (@CDCgov) May 6, 2026. X.<\/li>\n CDC: Statement on the M\/V Hondius cruise ship. https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2026-hantavirus-confirmed-cruise-ship.html. Updated May 7, 2026. Accessed May 7, 2026.<\/li>\n Hantavirus. https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/hantavirus. Published May 6, 2026. Accessed May 7, 2026.<\/li>\n Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, multi-country. https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/disease-outbreak-news\/item\/2026-DON599. Published May 4, 2026. Accessed May 7, 2026.<\/li>\n Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. (@DrTedros) May 6, 2026. X.<\/li>\n World Health Organization. (@WHO) May 7, 2026. X.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n
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