Indian-origin scientist Jay Bhattacharya urged Americans not to panic over a Hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship near Spain’s Canary Islands, insisting that the situation is “not Covid” and unlikely to develop into a large-scale public health crisis.Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the outbreak is being managed under well-established hantavirus containment protocols that have worked successfully in the past.“I don’t want to cause public panic,” Bhattacharya said.“We want to treat it with Hantavirus protocols that have successfully contained outbreaks in the past,” he said.“The main message I want to send to your audience is that this is not coronavirus. This will go no further than that [same] He added: “We should not panic when the evidence does not justify it.”The outbreak occurred on board the cruise ship MV “Hondius”, which was carrying about 150 passengers. According to World Health Organization officials, at least three passengers have died while five others have become seriously ill with Hantavirus symptoms since April 11.
Hantavirus is usually associated with rodents and can cause acute respiratory illness, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The CDC says about 38% of patients who develop respiratory symptoms die from the disease. However, health experts stress that the virus spreads much less easily than Covid-19 and usually requires close contact to be transmitted from person to person.Since then, the ship has docked near the Canary Islands, where passengers have begun disembarking.
There were reportedly 17 Americans on board, some of whom are expected to undergo quarantine at a specialized facility in Nebraska after their return to the United States.Bhattacharyya defended the CDC’s response, saying health officials had already contacted the affected passengers and were closely monitoring the situation.“The CDC has been in contact with every passenger,” he explained.“We’re interviewing them and preparing to evacuate them to the University of Nebraska’s Nebraska facility, which is a fantastic facility,” he added.He said the agency is following the same strategy used during the 2018 Andean hantavirus outbreak in Ibuen, Argentina, which killed 11 people.“It will include advice given to these … travelers, including an offer to stay in Nebraska if they wish, or if they want to return home, and their situation at home allows it, to get them safely home without exposing other people en route.”Seven American passengers had already left the ship weeks before the first death was reported.
They later traveled to states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas and Virginia. Hantavirus symptoms can take up to six weeks to appear, so health authorities continue to monitor them.Bhattacharyya also explained why the CDC is not tracking every airline passenger who may have traveled near these individuals.“The passengers on the repatriated ship did not show any symptoms when they returned home,” he said.
“Because the virus only spreads if someone has active symptoms, these passengers on planes are considered close contacts.”“There is no reason to do this kind of repetitive contact tracing,” he added.Bhattacharya also heads the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was confirmed by the US Senate last year. Born in Kolkata, he is a professor of health policy at Stanford University and became known globally during the COVID-19 pandemic as a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which criticized lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
