An American and a French woman tested positive for hantavirus as nations scrambled to repatriate passengers from a cruise ship hit by the deadly outbreak. Seventeen Americans returning from the ship were quarantined in Nebraska, while a Spanish woman and a British passenger also had suspected hantavirus infections. President Trump stated the hantavirus outbreak is “very much, we hope, under control.”
Public Health Response and Staffing
According to Futurism, all full-time employees for the CDC’s program responsible for public health on cruise ships were fired amid the Trump administration’s 2025 layoffs. No treatment or vaccine exists for the family of hantavirus, though scientists are working to develop them. In separate cruise ship health news, norovirus sickened 115 people aboard a Princess Cruises ship, according to the CDC.
Healthcare Policy Developments
According to sources familiar with discussions, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explored a possible ban on widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which Kennedy has linked to violence and fetal harm. An HHS spokesperson denied the claim. Meanwhile, a Canadian hospital had to cancel elective surgeries after being overrun by ants, the second such incident at the facility.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/generalinfectiousdisease/121200