JONATHAN M. METSCH, Dr.P.H. – Tracking Emerging Public Health Challenges – May 17 2026 – Hantavirus
The lesson is not that panic is warranted. It is that preparedness cannot be reactive.
Preparedness is not built during a crisis press conference or after a pathogen has already crossed borders. It requires sustained investment in surveillance systems, laboratory networks, infection prevention and control, health care workforce training, risk communication, and international coordination long before emergencies occur. It requires strengthening institutions even when outbreaks are no longer dominating headlines.
Importantly, preparedness also means recognizing that global health security is collective. An outbreak anywhere can become a threat everywhere if detection, reporting, and response systems are weak. Supporting countries facing outbreaks is not charity; it is a core component of international stability and security.
As mass gatherings such as the FIFA World Cup approach, these conversations become even more relevant. Large-scale international events do not create infectious disease threats, but they can expose vulnerabilities in surveillance, coordination, and health care readiness. The question is not whether another outbreak will occur. It is whether the world has learned enough from recent years to respond more effectively when it does.
Right now, the answer remains uncertain.” (1)
“The CDC has updated guidance for people possibly exposed to hantavirus.
People can quarantine at home so long as they stay away from others, wear a mask and do not travel.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 10 cases linked to a cruise ship that docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday.
In the U.S., 41 people are being monitored.” (2)
“Hantavirus can be transmitted for a long time time after its incubation, according to a new study that showed the concerning risks and potential consequences.
A peer-reviewed study published in Nov. 2023 found that the Andes strain of the hantavirus that recently broke out on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius can live in semen for up to six years.
While sexual transmission of hantavirus is yet to be documented, the researchers concluded that “taken together, our results show that ANDV has the potential for sexual transmission.”” (3)
“Though the CDC recommends people do not travel during the 42-day monitoring period, Fitter addressed why the department is “not using our federal quarantining authority on people” to mandate quarantines.
“Our approach is based on risk and evidence. We are working closely with passengers and public health partners to ensure monitoring and rapid access to care if symptoms develop,” he said.
There are currently no positive hantavirus cases in the United States tied to the outbreak.” (4)
“A Canadian who sailed on the cruise ship MV Hondius which was hit by a hantavirus outbreak in April has tested positive for the disease, officials in the province of British Columbia say.
The individual, one of four people isolating on Vancouver Island after leaving the ship, had developed mild symptoms.
The province’s senior health officer said the four had not had any contact with the public since arriving in Canada.” (5)
Colorado health officials confirm deadly hantavirus case not linked to cruise,
“During COVID, many governments were slow to react or in denial, public messaging was sometimes confusing and contradictory, restrictions and vaccine rollouts were applied differently round the world, and misinformation and politicization proliferated.”
“Spiteri and others at the forefront of the hantavirus response spoke about the need to balance explanations of why it is a serious global health event with reassurances that risks to the public are low and honesty over the open questions about a virus that has rarely spread among humans before.
“There are people who say we are overdoing it, and on the other extreme, that we’re not doing enough,” he said. “We always base our messages on the evidence we have.”
From a look at social media, their efforts are still a work in progress, with many people needlessly fretting about a return to lockdowns, social distancing and masks.
“We have kind of lost perspective,” said Gustavo Palacios, a professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the U.S. who is originally from Argentina and a hantavirus expert.
An outbreak can be a major public health event deserving attention and action but without becoming a pandemic, he noted.
Some posts online falsely present hantavirus as a bigger existential threat than COVID, or promote protections like the ivermectin anti-parasite drug, vitamin D and zinc without scientific evidence. False conspiracy theories are popping up too – that it is a side effect of the Pfizer vaccine or a hoax to boost pharmaceutical profits.” (6)
“Concerns about rising hantavirus cases has Americans reflecting on the coronavirus pandemic.
Although COVID-19 began with a foreign strain and spread rapidly around the world, experts say it’s not likely that hantavirus will behave the same way.
The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact.
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel spoke with Fox News Digital about the similarities and differences between hantavirus and coronavirus, noting that there is “no comparison.”
“You could say the comparison ends at that they’re both single-stranded RNA viruses,” he said. “That’s a comparison, but [hantavirus] has been unchanged basically for decades.”
Coronavirus was different because it began to mutate, which started to cause “all kinds of problems,” Siegel noted.
“We don’t know why it started to mutate, but this one doesn’t appear to have done that,” he said. “And every day that goes by seems to show that theory is correct – the genetics of it is the same.”
“So, there’s no comparison between these two viruses, other than that the single-stranded RNA viruses are both carried by animals.
Siegel added that COVID is an airborne virus, while hantavirus is mainly a secretion-borne virus, although it can be transmitted through dust and droppings in the air.
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
While coronavirus “moved in the direction of humans in a significant way,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” human-to-human transmission, according to the doctor.” (7)
“Experts have come out of the woodwork again to speak about this, and people are speaking with such confidence. Yet we, as WHO, have tried to learn – have learned – how important it is to speak about uncertainty with nuance… and I personally have really taken that to heart.
“We don’t know everything about transmission. We’ve taken a precautionary approach in all of this, in every operation that we have, assuming that human to human transmission is more efficient than it probably is. But we just don’t know… in this outbreak we made the decision early on that everyone on the ship was considered high risk.”
There are other unknowns too, chief among them: how did the Dutch couple first contracted Andes hantavirus? Initial theories that a bird watching trip near a rubbish dump in Ushuaia, where the MV Hondius left port in early April, have been largely dismissed. Argentinian scientists are now racing to sample rodents along the Dutch couple’s travel route.
There are also questions about preparedness – the outbreak has highlighted the glaring lack of vaccines and treatments for Andes hantavirus, despite the known risk.
The WHO lists the virus as a priority pathogen for research and development, while a 2020 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine warned the virus could trigger super-spreader events. Scientists say it is not the only known danger that has been neglected, in terms of both global scientific focus and funding.” (8)
“A federal official in the spotlight for helping lead the United States’ ongoing hantavirus response is also getting attention for his resume as a urologist.
Adm. Brian Christine, an assistant health secretary and head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, is a licensed Alabama physician who specialized in penile implants and men’s health.
Christine became a leading figure in the Trump administration’s response to hantavirus that has been known to sicken at least 10 people, killing three, from an outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship. In the United States, more than 40 people are being monitored for the Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, which derives from rodents. Experts have said hantavirus’ risk to the public is low.” (9)
How a Nature Cruise Turned Into a Nightmare,
1.First hantavirus, now Ebola: What two outbreaks reveal about global preparedness, By Krutika Kuppalli, https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/news-releases/2026/04/wfirm-team-discovers-gene-pattern
2.CDC updates guidelines for people exposed to hantavirus. Here’s what they are, By CNN Newsource staff, https://www.knoe.com/2026/05/15/cdc-updates-guidelines-people-exposed-hantavirus-heres-what-they-are/
3.Hantavirus study reveals horrifying transmission risk: ‘Up to 6 years’, by Thomas Westerholm, https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/hantavirus-study-reveals-horrifying-transmission-risk-up-to-6-years/ar-AA23juyq?ocid=BingNewsSerp
4.WHO shares update on global hantavirus cases, by Sara Moniuszko, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2026/05/15/hantavirus-cases-update-who/90094537007/
5.Canadian from hantavirus-hit cruise ship tests positive, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2k2p057ezno
6. Hantavirus outbreak tests post-COVID health communications playbook, By Jennifer Rigby, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/hantavirus-outbreak-tests-post-covid-health-communications-playbook-2026-05-15/
7. Hantavirus fears spark COVID flashbacks, but experts say there’s one major difference, By Angelica Stabile,https://www.foxnews.com/health/hantavirus-fears-spark-covid-flashbacks-experts-say-theres-one-major-difference
8.Top WHO official: I’m relieved it isn’t bird flu, but we’re in a ‘make or break’ phase for hantavirus, by Sarah Newey and Paul Nuki, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/maria-van-kerkhove-who-official-hantavirus-outbreak/
9. This urologist is a top US hantavirus response leader. What to know, by Eduardo Cuevas, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2026/05/16/hantavirus-health-brian-christine/90116228007/
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai