In this photo illustration, samples of hantavirus are seen in Ankara, Turkiye on May 6, 2026.
Armand Onal | Anadolu | Getty Images
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced there were no cases of hantavirus in the country as of Thursday, as it monitors 41 cases of the virus across the United States.
The agency said the risk to the general public remains low due to the outbreak on the cruise ship. The CDC advised those under surveillance to stay home and avoid contact with others for 42 days.
That includes three main groups of people: recently repatriated passengers who are currently in Nebraska and Atlanta, passengers who had already disembarked the ship and returned home before the outbreak was confirmed, and people who may have been infected during their travels “particularly on flights where symptomatic cases were present,” Dr. David Fitter, incident manager for the CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters at a media briefing.
The World Health Organization has reported a total of 11 cases of hantavirus infection linked to the outbreak, eight of which were laboratory-confirmed, and three of whom died.
The spread of the virus has raised concerns about the possibility of a global health crisis just a few years after the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, public health experts have stressed that the risk of spreading the virus is limited and warned that it is unlikely to cause a widespread health emergency.
The Andean strain of hantavirus associated with the outbreak does not spread easily between people, unlike other diseases such as coronavirus, measles, and influenza.
Still, experts say more confirmed cases could emerge in the coming weeks because of the long incubation period.
Some public health experts say the U.S. response to the hantavirus outbreak has been delayed by CDC staffing cuts and the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the WHO, exposing cracks in the country’s ability to respond to new health crises.
