All posts tagged: Hantavirus

U.S. restrictions related to Ebola and hantavirus raise public health concerns : NPR

U.S. restrictions related to Ebola and hantavirus raise public health concerns : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Many American passengers from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship have quarantined at Nebraska Medicine’s Davis Global Center in Omaha. Rebecca S. Gratz/AP hide caption toggle caption Rebecca S. Gratz/AP For the latest news on the Ebola outbreak — along with stories about life in our changing world — subscribe to NPR’s Global Health Newsletter. The Trump administration has imposed some very tough measures in response to the hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, despite the president’s past history of criticizing COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic. The administration imposed mandatory federal quarantine orders on two American passengers from the cruise ship hit by the hantavirus, wants round-the-clock guards for some U.S. passengers quarantining at home, banned people from countries where Ebola is spreading from entering the U.S, and blocked Americans who catch Ebola from returning to the country for treatment. “They have spent so much time talking about not having the government impose on peoples individual decisions and individual movement, touted individual choice over public health, and argued that individual freedom trumps public health guidance,” says Dr. Ashish Jha, a …

MV Hondius hantavirus cruise ship cleared to sail again after deadly outbreak | World | News

MV Hondius hantavirus cruise ship cleared to sail again after deadly outbreak | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

The cruise vessel at the heart of a fatal hantavirus outbreak has been given the all-clear to return to service, Oceanwide Expeditions has announced. MV Hondius triggered a worldwide health emergency earlier this month when passengers contracted the disease. A total of 13 confirmed cases have been linked to the outbreak, resulting in three fatalities. Hantavirus is an uncommon rodent-borne virus for which no vaccines or specific treatments are available, and the virus can remain dormant in the body for up to eight weeks. However, following comprehensive cleaning and disinfection procedures, the vessel is now ready to resume operations, with the Dutch public health agency stating there are ‘no longer any obstacles to putting the Hondius back to sea’. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) instructed the 22 British passengers aboard to remain at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, in Merseyside for testing – they began quarantine on May 10. Six individuals were permitted to depart the hospital to complete their isolation at home on May 13, but the remaining 16 passengers continue to …

Hantavirus cases linked to cruise ship outbreak rise to 13 – POLITICO

Hantavirus cases linked to cruise ship outbreak rise to 13 – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“The situation remains stable. Passengers who got sick are receiving needed care, while others remain in quarantine,” Tedros added. The outbreak of the rodent-borne disease was first reported on May 3 aboard the MV Hondius, which was carrying 150 passengers, and has caused three deaths. It triggered a global search for the cruise’s passengers who had already disembarked and activated disease-prevention measures across multiple countries. European public health authorities coordinated the evacuation of all passengers and crew over the past two weeks from Tenerife and the Netherlands, helping them be repatriated, tested and placed under quarantine. The ship, which had docked in Rotterdam, was set to depart for Vlissingen, in the Netherlands, but its departure was delayed after authorities said it needed additional cleaning, the boat’s tour operator said. In total, 13 cases have been reported, including 11 confirmed and two probable. Spain reported the 13th case on Monday, saying the patient had been in isolation at the Gómez Ulla military hospital in Madrid. No deaths have been reported since May 2. Other cases include a …

WHO says 12th person infected with hantavirus detected in the Netherlands | Health News

WHO says 12th person infected with hantavirus detected in the Netherlands | Health News

Published by Sam Flores

WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged all countries to monitor passengers who were on the MV Hondius cruise ship. Published On 22 May 202622 May 2026 The World Health Organization has urged countries to continue monitoring passengers for hantavirus after a case was detected among a Dutch crew member of the ship at the centre of the outbreak. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, told a news conference in Geneva on Friday that he urges all countries to monitor the passengers who were on board the MV Hondius cruise ship and “move carefully for the remainder of the quarantine period”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Tedros said a Dutch crew member had tested positive and was now in isolation, taking the total positive cases to 12. So far, three people have died due to the virus. Tedros reiterated that no deaths have been reported since May 2, when the outbreak was first reported to the WHO. “More than 600 contacts continue to be followed in 30 countries, and a small number …

How Wet Weather in Argentina Helped Fuel the Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak

How Wet Weather in Argentina Helped Fuel the Cruise Ship Hantavirus Outbreak

Published by skeptic

The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has created a global public health crisis. But the driver of it is a rodent that weighs about an ounce, and climate shifts this year that have helped increase the odds of transmission. Across the Southern Cone, researchers have long associated wetter years with explosive rodent population booms—known locally as ratadas—that can amplify hantavirus transmission. This year’s boom reflects a broader pattern of disease outbreaks shaped by climate change, environmental disruption, and a hyperconnected world. “These are emerging diseases because the distribution of both the reservoirs and the viruses is expanding,” says Karina Hodara, a researcher at the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of Buenos Aires who studies hantavirus ecology. “Humans travel across continents in a matter of hours.” The long-tailed pygmy rice rat is the common name for several species that live in Chile and Argentina that can harbor hantavirus. Each species is associated with different hantaviruses depending on geography. It’s still unclear where the first passengers that got sick with the Andes virus …

Ebola and hantavirus reveal US as a major threat to global health

Ebola and hantavirus reveal US as a major threat to global health

Published by Sam Flores

Ebola virus is in the headlines again this week. It’s a perennial pathogen, highly contagious and extremely deadly, and its occasional flareups could threaten a global disaster. An ongoing outbreak in the the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month has already racked up more than 500 cases, killing at least 130 people. On Monday, the U.S. announced a travel ban on Uganda and the DRC, as well as Sudan, after reports that at least six Americans were exposed to the virus, plus one doctor who tested positive, started displaying symptoms and was evacuated to Germany. The disease has spilled across Congo’s borders into Uganda, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern. Though this hasn’t yet reached the scale of a pandemic, it’s essentially an alarm bell for any country that values human life. This bad news comes on the heels of a hantavirus outbreak onboard a Dutch cruise ship earlier this month that grabbed global attention with 11 cases, three of them fatal. …

US Health Officials Order Quarantine for 2 Passengers From Cruise Ship With Hantavirus Outbreak

US Health Officials Order Quarantine for 2 Passengers From Cruise Ship With Hantavirus Outbreak

Published by Sam Flores

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. health officials said Tuesday they have issued quarantine orders for two passengers from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak who are now at a hospital in Nebraska. The orders were signed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the CDC said in a statement. Quarantine orders, which can be enforced with fines and prison time, are a rare legal step that can be taken if someone objects to a public health request. All 18 passengers at the Nebraska hospital had been asked to stay at the facility through May 31, part of their monitoring period, according to the CDC. On a call with reporters, the CDC’s Dr. David Fitter said there were no hantavirus cases among the returned U.S. passengers. But symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks, said Jodie Guest, senior vice chair of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “I’m certain that 42 days is starting to …

Adult Dies of Hantavirus in Colorado, State Health Officials Say

Adult Dies of Hantavirus in Colorado, State Health Officials Say

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – An ⁠adult ⁠in Colorado has ⁠died after a confirmed case of ​hantavirus that is not linked to a ‌recent outbreak aboard a ‌cruise ship in the Atlantic, ⁠Colorado ⁠Department of Public Health and Environment officials said ​in a statement on Monday. The strain of hantavirus that caused the Colorado death occurs regularly ​in Colorado at this time of year, ⁠the statement ⁠said, and officials ⁠are ​investigating the source of exposure. Hantavirus is primarily spread ​by rodents ⁠but can be transmitted between people in rare cases and after prolonged, close contact. Incubation can last about six ⁠weeks. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise docked at Rotterdam on ⁠Monday. It had been carrying around 150 passengers and crew from 23 countries when a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses was first reported to the World Health Organization on May 2. Three people on the liner have died. ⁠Including those deaths, there have been eight confirmed and two probable cases on board, according to WHO. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, ​Katharine Jackson; editing by Susan ​Heavey …