I've spent yesterday and today talking to researchers across the globe trying to understand the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius.
My story is here (and some threaded thoughts coming):
https://www.science.org/content/article/cruise-ship-s-hantavirus-outbreak-puts-researchers-uncharted-territory
UPDATE
https://mastodon.social/@benroyce/116534850992185405
i do not want to be a voice for panic:
the #KLM #flightAttendant has tested negative for #hantavirus the #WHO says:
we got a scary datapoint yesterday, but the data point turns out to be a false lead
score one for #medicine and effective #government response to #disease #outbreak
as an american, i am jealous
The #hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship off the coast of Africa is a serious public health event that needs to be handled properly. But if you are having #Covid flashbacks, put those worries to rest. The risk here is to people on the ship & their close contacts. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak-scientists-say-not-new-pandemic/
Three more passengers test positive for #Hantavirus from cruise ship. Two from USA and one from France.
The Americans now in quarantine in Nebraska.
Four Canadians - with no symptoms - are in quarantine in Victoria, BC.
The French woman tested positive for hantavirus and her health worsened in the hospital overnight.
The woman was among five French passengers repatriated Sunday to Paris. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hantavirus-cruise-ship-evacuation-9.7194723
#homeoffice
a French national who was not on board the ship but who had shared a flight with an infected passenger had also contracted the virus.
RE: https://swiss.social/@tobi82/116529644096699555
Spanish newspapers are keeping track of the #hantavirus ship as it moves towards the Canary Islands where remaining passengers will be examined and repatriated.
What’s new to me in this report is that 23 people got off the ship in St Helens, and nobody was keeping track of them.
These 23 individuals are now the subject of an international contact tracing effort led by the World Health Organization (#WHO), as the outbreak is linked to the #Andes strain of hantavirus, which can spread between humans. One of these passengers, a Swiss citizen, has since tested positive and is receiving treatment in Zurich.
Y’all remember how covid got its first big push? A cruise ship. It docked, the Trump admin sent healthcare workers to deal with it, then those healthcare workers got on national airlines and flew around the country, and a few weeks later…epidemic.
Unbelievable that these people weren’t being monitored for a human to human spread vector.
What else do I find concerning?
That the 30 people who were on the cruise ship Hondius, and have left to go back to their home countries, a handful of which are now in the US (who have quit WHO and seem hell bent on destroying any semblance of healthcare), are only being "monitored".
Symptoms can take 8 weeks to show up w/the #AndesVirus and I don't understand why they aren't being quarantined for 8 weeks since this #HantaVirus can spread human-to-human
We've learned nothing.
IMO
*EDITED
World Health Organization expects more #hantavirus cases but doesn’t ‘anticipate large epidemic’ - https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/may/07/ukraine-russia-drones-latvia-hungary-bulgaria-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-69fc9f258f089ae78b6e4d71#block-69fc9f258f089ae78b6e4d71 that doesn't sound very reassuring...
People stop freaking out about #HantaVirus. There is a variant first seen in the #Andes that can be transmitted human-to-human, and that's probably what got on the #cruiseShip based on its ports of call, but these things tend to peter out, it happens all the time, it is well-contained...
" #KLM #flightAttendant hospitalised with suspected hantavirus"
Oh fuck
#PublicHealth #Disease #Epidemiology #Epidemic #Medicine #Virus
RE: https://universeodon.com/@georgetakei/116535657473578228
i said it in 2020, have to say it again: #MAGA #oligarchy #EpsteinClass #GOP #Republicans are using #vaccines hesitancy, #COVID #flu and now #HantaVirus to wage biological warfare.
stop giving RFK Jr the benefit of the doubt. Trump chose him not to be Secretary of Health buf Secretary of #Eugenics.
RFK’s goal is to kill as many Americans as he can. this isn't speculation. the evidence is there. it is a statement of fact.
HEALTH CARE IS POLITICAL WARFARE
―Audre Lorde
Je vois tout le monde dans mon entourage paniquer vis-à-vis de l'hantavirus, donc je profite de ce moment d'attention médiatique pour partager les trois seules mesures de prévention efficaces contre les virus respiratoires :
- porter un masque FFP2 dans les foules et les lieux fermés (un masque chirurgical ne suffira pas) et le changer régulièrement (toutes les quatre heures environ).
- aérer dix minutes toutes les heures, voir utiliser des purificateurs d'air si c'est possible pour vous.
- la vaccination ! (Quand elle est disponible)
Je vous conseille également de jeter un œil aux ressources de l'@arra qui sont bien plus calé-es que moi.
#hantavirus #rdr #covid19 #CovidIsNotOver #mastomed #fedimed #doctoctoc
No joke
Penile implant doctor with #AntiVax & #FarRight #ConspiracyTheories history led the government’s #hantavirus presser
As the #Trump admin sought to reassure Americans this week that a hantavirus #outbreak posed little risk to the public, Dr. Brian Christine, one of Trump’s top #PublicHealth officials in charge of #InfectiousDisease policy, stood before reporters in Nebraska promising a response “grounded in science” & “grounded in transparency.”
#idiocracy
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/15/politics/brian-christine-vaccine-skepticism-history
