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As the Hantavirus outbreak linked to passengers aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius continues to develop, health experts are expressing concern over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) handling of the situation.
Several specialists note that the CDC’s involvement in managing the outbreak among Americans has been limited compared to the more active roles taken by health authorities in other countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken the lead in coordinating the global response to this rodent-borne respiratory illness. Traditionally, the CDC would collaborate closely with the WHO during such health crises, but since the United States formally withdrew from the WHO in January 2025, this partnership has been disrupted.
The current U.S. response follows significant staffing cuts at the CDC during the previous administration, which saw thousands of employees, including scientists and members of the agency’s ship sanitation program, laid off. Despite these concerns and the reduced capacity of the CDC, former President Donald Trump stated on Friday that “We seem to have things under very good control.”
To date, seven American passengers from the cruise have returned to states including Arizona, Georgia, California, Texas, and Virginia. On Friday, U.S. health officials confirmed that a team would be sent to the Canary Islands in Spain on Sunday to assist the remaining 17 American passengers still aboard the ship.
These individuals will be transported to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, where they will undergo evaluation and monitoring for potential infection. The CDC also issued its first health alert to U.S. medical professionals, advising them to remain vigilant for possible imported cases.
The WHO reported that six cases of the Andes hantavirus have been confirmed, with two additional suspected cases. Tragically, three deaths have been linked to the virus, including those of a Dutch couple and a German national.
Public health experts have been outspoken about the CDC’s limited role in the outbreak response. Lawrence Gostin, a global health expert at Georgetown University, told the Associated Press, “The CDC is not even a player. I’ve never seen that before.”
The WHO emphasizes that hantavirus infection typically results from contact with the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents. While rare, the disease can be severe and even fatal. The agency also notes that limited human-to-human transmission of the Andes virus has been documented in previous outbreaks.
According to the CDC, the risk to the U.S. public remains “extremely low at this time.” The agency is working to raise awareness among travelers, public health organizations, laboratories, and healthcare providers nationwide as a precautionary measure.
Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya clarified on CNN’s “State of the Union” that while cruise ship passengers will have the option to remain in Nebraska for monitoring, they will not be required to do so. Bhattacharya stressed, “This is not Covid, Jake.
We don’t want to treat it like Covid. We don’t want to cause a public panic over this.
We want to treat it with hantavirus protocols that, again, were successful in containing outbreaks in the past.”