Eighteen Americans from a cruise ship hit by hantavirus landed in Nebraska this week — one already testing positive before showing a single symptom, two more routed to a biocontainment unit in Atlanta — while public health experts told the New York Times the U.S. response has been dangerously slow.
A Connecticut resident who recently traveled to Western Europe has become the state's first confirmed case of clade I mpox, Connecticut's Department of Public Health reported. The timing matters: clade I, a strain that has historically circulated in Central and Eastern Africa, has been spreading across Western Europe — and since November 2024, more than 20 clade I cases have been identified in the U.S., all linked to travelers or their close contacts.
Both clade I and clade II mpox spread through the same routes — primarily direct skin-to-skin contact with an infected rash — and both are prevented by the same tools. Mpox can spread starting up to four days before symptoms appear and continues until the rash has fully healed and new skin has formed. Symptoms can include fever, chills, headache, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes alongside the distinctive blistering rash. Connecticut DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani, M.D., called out the timing directly: "Mpox hasn't gone away, and we want people to be protected, especially as many in our community prepare for travel, festivals, and gatherings this summer."
The JYNNEOS vaccine, taken as a two-dose series, remains the recommended protection for people at risk, according to Connecticut DPH. Vaccines are available at pharmacies and clinics across the state.
Gobble's Take: Summer travel plans and a spreading clade I strain are not a reassuring combination — two vaccine doses before you go is the less dramatic story.
Source: Outbreak News Today
Eighteen passengers from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship arrived in the U.S. by private transport, landing in Nebraska. Fifteen are in the Nebraska quarantine center, where they are resting, being screened, and participating in detailed interviews to establish exposure timelines and home situations. None have symptoms. One person is in the Nebraska biocontainment unit after testing positive for hantavirus on PCR without symptoms. Two passengers — a couple — were sent to the Atlanta biocontainment unit; one has mild symptoms and the other has no symptoms.
The CDC says passengers will eventually move to regional centers and then home, monitored for a total of 42 days. Health experts have criticized the response as slow, citing staffing cuts at the CDC and the loss of regular WHO information-sharing following the U.S. withdrawal from the organization.
Gobble's Take: Fifteen passengers are in Nebraska quarantine, one is in a Nebraska biocontainment unit, and two are in Atlanta — the full picture is more distributed than early reports suggested.
Sources: Your Local Epidemiologist · News Not Noise · The QS Journal
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