The US’s withdrawal from the WHO – and cuts to the country’s health system – stymie officials’ response
The outbreak of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius illuminates major gaps in the US public health system – a worrying sign for stopping this outbreak quickly and preparing for a potential pandemic of a more widespread pathogen in coming years, experts say.
Passengers and their close contacts are at risk of hantavirus and need to follow public health guidance, but the danger for most people is near zero, officials and scientists say. Experts expect more cases in this outbreak to be identified, but they are emphatic that a hantavirus pandemic is highly unlikely.
“This is not Covid, this is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently,” Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management at the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Thursday. “This is not the same situation we were in six years ago … It’s very different.”
The WHO has been coordinating a response with several countries. But Trump pulled out of the organization soon after taking office, and US leadership has been conspicuously absent in the global hantavirus response, experts say.
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Gotta keep people stupid and scared. That way they can offer a cure for a problem nobody has AND distract them from bigger things.
For those who don’t know, hantavirus is contracted by coming into contact with rodent urine and feces. It doesn’t get spread among humans. As the WHO said, this is not Covid 2.
It’s some people on a boat who came into contact with some rats or mice.CORRECTION: It IS the Andes strain, which is passable by humans. Sorry for the mistake and thanks for pointing it out. That does carry a degree of caution more.There is a strain of hantavirus that is passed from human to human, but overall you’re correct. It’s certainly not Covid 2.
