All posts tagged "Hantavirus"

A former FBI official warned that the Trump administration "dismantled" the teams responsible for handling new strains of a virus now alarming experts and the world.

"The hantavirus situation should serve as a wake-up call," Frank Figliuzzi, a former high-ranking FBI official, told Harry Litman on his podcast on Thursday.

"Did you know that the actual unit created to deal with new strains of hantavirus research, including the strain that we're seeing right now, has been dismantled?" Figliuzzi asked. "Gone, fired." ...

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former cardiologist to Vice President Dick Cheney, unleashed a serious criticism of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his lack of response to a recent rodent-borne illness outbreak.

Reiner shared his stern criticism of Kennedy in an X post on Saturday.

"RFK Jr has yet to address the hantavirus outbreak," Reiner wrote. "As leader of the massive US health enterprise he should be out front reassuring the American public about the threat, and our response capabilities. But he’s spent a career casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines and the risk of a variety of viral illnesses. He’s the wrong leader for HHS."...

New information was revealed on Saturday about how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned to respond to the American passengers who have been stranded on a luxury cruise ship amid the hantavirus outbreak, according to reports.

A CDC control crew was slated to meet with the 17 Americans who have been on board a cruise ship where the deadly rat-borne virus outbreak occurred, MS NOW reported. They were expected to be transported for observation to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Nebraska.

Michael Wadman, Director of the National Quarantine Unit, described how each person would have their own isolated space, similar to a hotel room, with access to WiFi, exercise equipment and food delivery. ...

Right-wing influencers were spreading conspiracy theories about the rat-borne illness that has left three luxury cruise ship passengers dead, according to reports on Thursday.

Experts from the World Health Organization have said that the hantavirus outbreak on MV Hondius is being transmitted human-to-human and that MAGA social media accounts are now suggesting the virus was purposefully introduced to the passengers, The Daily Beast reported. The ship has been stranded off Cape Verde throughout the week but is now back to sailing with the plan to disembark passengers in the Canary Islands starting on Monday. Eight confirmed cases have been connected to the cruise, prompting medical evacuations in South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

MAGA followers were sharing their unfounded claims....