90-Second Read: Here's the CDC's plan as Hantavirus-hit cruise starts evacuation process
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Elena Park
Published
Published May 13, 2026
A cruise ship with over 140 passengers on board, including more than a dozen Americans, is being evacuated after a Hantavirus outbreak that has resulted in three deaths. A cruise ship carrying more than 140 passengers, including over a dozen Americans, started evacuations on Sunday following a Hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives so far. No one on board is currently showing symptoms, but five passengers who previously left the ship have been infected with Hantavirus.
Passengers wearing protective gear started disembarking in small boats after the cruise ship anchored off Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands. Still, Frieden said that the CDC's response has been too slow, from the dispatching of disease investigators to health alerts to doctors. We have left the World Health Organization, and we are vulnerable to threats because we don't have these basic defenses.
The World Health Organization has been out front on the Hantavirus response. The New York Times reported that the CDC set up a team to respond to the outbreak this past Tuesday, or nearly a month after the first patient had died. Authorities said there would be no contact with the local population.
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Original reporting
Based on reporting from KETV. Read the original source for full details.
Source published May 10, 8:41 AM EDT. Hantavirus Now reviewed reporting from KETV and summarized the key points below.
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