A doctor denounces the laxity of the United States in the face of the hantavirus health crisis

The United States “is not living up to what can be done” in the hantavirus health crisis, said Anne Sénèque, a doctor and co-director of the Observatory of Global Health at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris), on Monday, May 11, 2026. After being evacuated from the Canaries, where the ship stopped, American passengers will be taken to a specialized center in rural Nebraska at the center of the country. Asymptomatic passengers may not necessarily be quarantined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s main health agency. “It’s true that it raises questions,” says Anne Sénèque. Five repatriated French citizens, isolated in Paris, one woman’s health deteriorated overnight, and the tests came back positive, said French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist. A total of 22 identified contacts are now also isolated in France.

The United States, having left the World Health Organization, “are conducting evaluations on a case-by-case basis. They are slightly less strict than the majority of European countries,” explains Anne Sénèque. “Nevertheless, they have communicated with the WHO during this hantavirus crisis. They have not completely severed relations and coordination,” she underlined. “But they were a bit slow to start, and it’s true that they are not living up to what can be done, when usually they are the strictest,” she adds. This could be seen as a form of negligence, in her view. “We are clearly facing a laxity issue because asymptomatic individuals are not being tested and quarantine is not being enforced.”

“It is also important to put things into perspective. We have seen in different crises that there is a truth at a given moment and that any change in the situation can lead to protocol adjustments,” she concludes. According to the US Department of Health, a passenger from the MV Hondius evacuated to the United States tested positive for hantavirus, and a second passenger is experiencing “mild symptoms.”