Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
As RFK Jr. Downplays Rabies, CDC Staff Tells Docs It’s a Daily Threat
MedPage Today Accurate risk assessment can spare patients from costly preventive care. Just a week after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed rabies during a Senate hearing based on the few annual fatalities, CDC staff held a call with physicians to emphasize that preventing further deaths requires millions of U.S. medical visits every year […]
May 6, 2026
UK Leads Global Bird Flu Vaccine Trial
MedScape The UK is recruiting 3000 of the 4000 volunteers needed for a major international trial of an mRNA vaccine against bird flu, as experts warn that H5N1 remains a credible pandemic threat. H5 influenza, or avian/bird flu, remains a pandemic threat, experts said. The virus has been circulating in wild birds — and domestic poultry — […]
May 6, 2026
How an H5N1 Outbreak in Elephant Seals Can Inform Pandemic Readiness
The Scientist Regular surveillance and rapid sequencing in coastal wildlife help researchers identify viral mutations and assess their pandemic potential. The first sign that something was wrong came during a survey walk in Año Nuevo State Park, a stretch of beach along the central coast of California. In January 2026, researchers at the University of […]
May 6, 2026
Surge in HPAI infections attributed to wild-bird spillover
AVMA Poultry losses alone surpass 200 million since outbreak started in 2022. The U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, more specifically avian influenza type A H5N1), is experiencing a resurgence among commercial poultry operations, driven largely by spillover from migrating wild birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The threat of infection […]
May 6, 2026
What is hantavirus? Here’s everything you need to know about how it spreads
National Geographic Experts explain why the outbreak aboard a Dutch cruise ship is so rare—and how much of a risk it poses. It’s not extraordinary for a cruise ship to be afflicted by an eruption of infectious diseases. But the recent cluster of hantavirus cases on the M.V. Hondius, a Dutch polar expedition vessel sailing from Argentina […]
May 6, 2026
Cruise Ship’s Hantavirus Outbreak Could Have Started On Bird-Watching Trip
Forbes Key Background The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for the Canary Islands off the coast of northwestern Africa, visiting some of the world’s most remote islands along the way. The ship made stops in Antarctica, South Georgia, Nightingale Island, Tristan da Cunha, St. Helena (where the Dutch man’s body was taken from the […]
May 6, 2026
Dairy Farms May Transmit H5N1 Virus Through Multiple Sources
Morning Ag Study suggests transmission is not limited to direct contact with contaminated milk. The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been detected in over 700 herds of dairy cows in California, the largest dairy-producing state in the U.S. A study published May 5th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology led by Seema S. Lakdawala […]
May 6, 2026
Hantavirus is on the rise in Argentina, where a stricken cruise ship began its journey
LA Times A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship departing Argentina highlights a broader crisis: The country is experiencing a surge of the rare rodent-borne disease linked to climate change. Argentina has recorded 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, roughly double the previous year, with the mortality rate nearly tripling to about one-third of […]
May 6, 2026
Hantavirus-hit cruise ship to head to Canary Islands as Swiss confirm new case
Washington Post More than 140 people remain on the Hondius, which will take about three days to reach the Spanish archipelago for screening. A local official has criticized the plan. Three people were evacuated Wednesday from the cruise ship facing a hantavirus outbreak in the Atlantic Ocean, as Swiss health authorities confirmed another case in […]
May 6, 2026
A Brutal First for the Cruise Industry
The Atlantic A hantavirus outbreak is serious and unnerving. Norovirus loves a cruise ship. So did the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19. The crowded rooms, stuffy air, and communal dining of a giant boat filled with humans create the ideal conditions for pathogens to spread. Now hantavirus—a highly deadly rodent-borne pathogen that typically spreads when people […]
May 6, 2026