Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
US Hantavirus Cruisegoer Is Moved To Atlanta After Showing Symptoms
MedPage Today: American Hantavirus Cruise Passenger Develops Symptoms, Transferred To Atlanta
A total of 18 passengers from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha for quarantine, but a couple was transported to Emory University in Atlanta after one partner developed symptoms, officials said. Another passenger had previously tested PCR-positive for the virus, and while remaining asymptomatic, was moved to UNMC's biocontainment unit for monitoring. (Fiore, 5/11)
San Francisco Chronicle: Fourth Californian Possibly Exposed To Hantavirus Tied To Cruise Ship
A fourth California resident may have been exposed to the Andes hantavirus associated with the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship that began last month, California health officials said Monday. The person was not a passenger on the cruise ship, and may have been exposed while on a plane in South Africa sitting near an ill person who had been a passenger on the ship. The ill person was later confirmed to have hantavirus, and they were taken off the flight before it took off. (Ho, 5/11)
Why the Trump administration isn't worried —
The Hill: RFK Jr. Says Hantavirus Situation Is 'Under Control'
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the U.S. has the hantavirus “under control.” During Monday’s press conference in the Oval Office about mental health, a reporter asked President Trump whether he regretted withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) in light of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship that had more than a dozen Americans on board. Trump maintained he was “glad” to have left the WHO and reiterated his belief that the U.S. was paying too much into the organization. (Choi, 5/11)
CBS News: CDC's Acting Director Says Hantavirus Is Not 'A Five-Alarm Fire Bell'
Jay Bhattacharya, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, defended the federal government's response to the deadly hantavirus outbreak, saying it doesn't make sense to sound "a five-alarm fire bell" because the risk to the public is "much, much lower" than what we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's very different than COVID, and we should treat it differently than COVID," Bhattacharya told "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil on Monday when asked about the lack of daily briefings on the outbreak. (Yilek, 5/11)
On the spread of hantavirus and a search for treatment —
NBC News: Hantavirus In The U.S.: How Easily Does The Andes Strain Spread?
At least six passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship have tested positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus. Of the 18 Americans who were on board and are now in quarantine facilities in the U.S., at least three are being closely watched for possible infection. The latest confirmed cases are all among people who had direct contact with other patients who were on the ship, although concerns about how easily — or not — the Andes strain spreads are growing. Andes is the only type of hantavirus that can pass from person to person. (Edwards, 5/11)
The Colorado Sun: Why Person-To-Person Hantavirus Transmission Is Unlikely In Colorado
As U.S. citizens aboard a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship make their way to special containment units in Nebraska and Georgia for quarantine, Colorado health officials say they are not expecting anyone connected to the ship outbreak to arrive here. (Ingold, 5/12)
The Wall Street Journal: The Next Frontier For Hantavirus: Finding Vaccines And Treatments
Drug hunters have searched for years for a treatment for the rare infectious disease hantavirus, which caused an outbreak on a cruise ship that global public-health officials are now racing to contain. The latest outbreak, which has killed three people and sickened several others, adds increased urgency to those efforts. While hantavirus is generally contracted through exposure to infected rodents, the strain in the current outbreak can be transmitted from person to person. (Loftus, 5/11)
