A lab at the University of Nebraska has developed a test that can detect the virus before symptoms become severe. Now, it's ready to start testing cruise ship passengers returning to the US. As passengers return to the US from the cruise that saw a rare hantavirus outbreak, much of the country is lacking a basic public health tool: a test to diagnose the illness in the earliest stages of infection. Nebraska may be the first state with the ability to do so. In just a few days, a lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha developed its own diagnostic test for the Andes virus in anticipation of receiving 16 American passengers from the ship. "I believe we might be the only lab in the nation that has this test available at the moment," Peter Iwen, director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory tells WIRED, referring to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which was important during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here's what you need to know, from why the cruise ship outbreak won't spark the next pandemic to how hantavirus spreads. Now that more than 100 passengers aboard a hantavirus -stricken luxury cruise ship have been evacuated, with 18 Americans in biocontainment units in Nebraska and Georgia, health officials around the world are working to monitor more than two dozen individuals who left the cruise and anyone with whom they might have come in close contact. So far, all of the 11 reported hantavirus cases are among passengers or crew on the ship, the World Health Organization's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday. That includes three deaths resulting from the virus. Typically, hantaviruses are spread when contaminated rodent droppings and urine are stirred up in the air and breathed in.

From claims of an Israeli false flag to efforts to sell ivermectin, influencers and grifters are using lessons learned from Covid-19 to push their baseless conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theorists, wellness influencers, and grifters have already started promoting wild claims about the hantavirus outbreak that began aboard the MV, a cruise ship on the Atlantic. Some conspiracy theorists compared the outbreak to the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming it was another effort to control the global population, while others pushed a false narrative that the Covid-19 vaccine caused hantavirus. Many others promoted ivermectin as a treatment, using the incident as a way to sell emergency medical kits featuring the antiparasitic drug typically used as a horse dewormer. In more recent days, many of these same people spreading conspiracy theories have promoted the baseless and antisemitic claims that the entire incident is a false flag orchestrated by Israel.

Since 2023, Moderna and Korea University have been developing a new mRNA vaccine for hantavirus. The work has been promising so far, but a finished product isn't likely coming any time soon. US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna confirmed that it has been working on the development of hantavirus vaccines in collaboration with the Vaccine Innovation Center of Korea University College of Medicine (VIC-K). This comes after an outbreak of hantavirus occurred on a Dutch cruise ship that sailed from Argentina and disembarked its passengers and crew in the Canary Islands on May 10. At least three people aboard the MV died, and several cases were reported as serious.

Could Contact-Tracing Apps Help With the Hantavirus? Contact-tracing apps were widely deployed during the Covid pandemic. After three people died on a cruise ship struck by a hantavirus, authorities are actively tracking down 29 people who had left the ship. They're trying to trace the spread of the virus. It's a long, arduous, global process to find and notify people who might be at risk of infection.

Today on, we're diving into recent reports that the Trump administration is considering an executive order that would establish some sort of federal oversight over new AI models. This week on, the team discusses the surprising reports of the Trump administration seemingly reversing its stance when it comes to AI safety and regulation. We also look into what exactly is going on with the Hantavirus outbreak, and whether you should be worried. Also, we get into the story of how a former federal employee who was ousted by Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency is now running for office. Plus, a Spirit Airlines laid off employee shares with us how they experienced the company's shutdown news last weekend and what they'll miss most about the job. A Federal Worker Was Fired for Filming DOGE. Write to us at [email protected] . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . And we're going to talk about whether this move actually signals a meaningful shift in future regulation of this technology.

Here's What You Need to Know About the Hantavirus While the outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic is concerning, the virus isn't easily transmitted through casual contact. Cruises are so closely associated with illness that the highly contagious norovirus is commonly called the "cruise ship virus." But a ship headed for Spain's Canary Islands has attracted global attention due to a rare outbreak of hantavirus that's left three dead. While alarming, health officials and infectious disease experts say the risk to the general public right now is low because hantavirus is less contagious than other respiratory diseases like the coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic . "This is not Covid, this is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently," Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the World Health Organization, said at a press conference on Thursday.

What are the symptoms of meningitis and is there a vaccine? Two people have died following an outbreak of meningitis in Kent. The death of a year 13 pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham was confirmed by the local MP on Monday. The second person who died was a student at the University of Kent. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it was notified of 13 cases with signs and symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia from Friday to Sunday in the Canterbury area.

Two people have died following an outbreak of invasive meningitis at the University of Kent. BBC South East understands that a further 11 people from the Canterbury area are currently in hospital and reported to be seriously ill. It is understood that most are aged between 18 and 21 and are students at the university. Both of the people who have died are also believed to be between 18 and 21, with one also confirmed to be a student. More than 30,000 students, staff and their families are being contacted by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to inform them of the situation.

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