Inside an African lab that helped crack the hantavirus outbreak

May 22, 2026 5:21 PM

Inside an African lab that helped crack the hantavirus outbreak

The call for help came in early May: a cruise ship off Cape Verde was stranded, with passengers suspected of infection by a deadly strain of hantavirus that kills about one in three of its victims. The vessel had stopped at several remote islands, and the World Health Organization needed answers. Could a biomedical research center in Senegal, an hour's flight away, support a team collecting specimens from suspected cases on board? The plane landed in Senegal in the early hours of May 5. At the...

EU coordinates response to Hantavirus outbreak

May 12, 2026 11:44 AM

EU coordinates response to Hantavirus outbreak

The European Commission said it is coordinating and supporting national authorities in responding to the hantavirus outbreak, while the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assessed the risk to the general population in Europe as “very low.” Since Spain activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on May 6, the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre has been facilitating the safe evacuation of people aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which was anchored off Tenerife. Five...