In this photo illustration, hantavirus samples are seen in Ankara, Turkiye, on May 6, 2026.
Armán Onal | Anadolu | fake images
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are no cases of hantavirus in the country as of Thursday, while it is monitoring 41 people across the U.S. for the virus.
The agency said the risk to the general public remains low after an outbreak on a cruise ship. The CDC advised those being monitored to stay home and avoid people for 42 days.
That includes people from three main groups: passengers who were recently repatriated and are now in Nebraska and Atlanta, passengers who had already abandoned ship and returned home before the outbreak was identified, and people who may have been exposed during travel, “specifically on flights where there was a symptomatic case,” Dr. David Fitter, incident manager for the CDC's hantavirus response, told reporters at a news conference.
The World Health Organization has reported 11 total hantavirus cases linked to the outbreak, eight confirmed by laboratory testing, including three deaths.
The spread of the virus has raised concerns about a possible global health crisis just a few years after the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, public health experts have stressed that the risks of the outbreak are limited and have warned that it is unlikely to cause a widespread health emergency.
The Andean strain of hantavirus associated with the outbreak, unlike other diseases such as Covid, measles and flu, does not spread easily between people.
Still, more confirmed cases could emerge in the coming weeks because it has a long incubation period, according to experts.
Some public health experts have said that the United States' response to the spread of the hantavirus, slowed by staff cuts at the CDC and the Trump administration's decision to leave the WHO, has exposed cracks in its readiness to handle another health crisis.
