分类： health

In the wake of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three passengers on the cruise ship MV Hondius and triggered a multinational evacuation off Spain’s Canary Islands, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that containment efforts are far from complete. The rare Andes variant of hantavirus — which can spread between humans and has no licensed vaccine or targeted cure — has sparked global unease after emerging on the Atlantic cruise, but public health leaders have moved quickly to dismiss comparisons to the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, noting the current global risk remains low.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid on Tuesday, following his oversight of the evacuation operation, Tedros emphasized that there is currently no evidence to suggest a large-scale global outbreak is imminent. “But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” he added. As of the latest official counts compiled by Agence France-Presse, seven confirmed cases and one probable case remain among surviving passengers and crew members on the vessel, with affected individuals holding citizenship from six nations: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

More than 120 passengers and crew members were repatriated from the Canary Islands over Sunday and Monday, with each country implementing its own public health measures aligned with WHO guidance. The UN health body’s recommendations call for a 42-day quarantine and continuous monitoring for high-risk contacts, matching the virus’s maximum six-week incubation period. Tedros urged all nations receiving evacuees to adhere to the organization’s guidance, while acknowledging that countries retain full authority to set their own public health protocols. On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu added his voice to the conversation, calling for tighter coordination of health safety rules across the European Union to manage the situation.

The MV Hondius outbreak has already created unexpected diplomatic strains, as nations negotiated over responsibility for hosting and treating the infected vessel. Initially, Cape Verde refused entry to the cruise ship, which was forced to anchor off the capital Praia while three critically ill patients were airlifted to Europe last week. Spain ultimately agreed to allow the vessel to anchor off the Canary Islands to complete the full evacuation of all passengers and crew, but the regional government of the Atlantic archipelago strongly pushed back against the decision. Defending his administration’s choice to accept the ship, Sanchez stressed that “the world does not need more selfishness or more fear. What it needs are countries that show solidarity and want to step forward.”

After the evacuation wrapped up, the MV Hondius departed Tenerife on Monday with only a minimal skeleton crew on board. It is scheduled to arrive in the Netherlands, its home country, this Sunday, where it will undergo full professional disinfection. Hantavirus is typically transmitted to humans through contact with the urine, feces, and saliva of infected rodents, and the Andes variant is endemic to parts of South America. The MV Hondius began its transatlantic cruise from Argentina on April 1, bound for Cape Verde before the outbreak was detected.

Public health officials in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, have issued a broad public health warning after a confirmed case of highly contagious measles was detected in an international traveller returning from a region with ongoing outbreaks. The case, which was confirmed earlier this week, has already been linked to dozens of exposure sites across greater Sydney, ranging from popular retail and community hubs to medical facilities and an international flight.

NSW Health confirmed the infected individual had recently travelled through South and Southeast Asia, a region where health officials are currently reporting persistent measles outbreaks. The traveller remained infectious while moving through multiple NSW communities, leading authorities to publish an ever-expanding list of exposure locations that is updated regularly as contact tracing work progresses.

Among the sites identified so far are well-trafficked locations including 7-Eleven Emerald Hills, Southgate Shopping Centre in Sylvania, Caringbah Auto Repairs and Service, Philter Brewery in Marrickville, as well as multiple medical centres, retail outlets, and major transport hubs across western, southern, and inner Sydney. A China Airlines flight travelling from Taipei to Sydney, which arrived at Sydney Airport on April 26, has also been listed as an exposure site.

Officials were quick to clarify that the identified venues no longer carry an ongoing risk of transmission, but have issued urgent guidance for anyone who visited these locations during the active exposure windows to monitor their health closely for 18 days following potential contact. As of the latest update, 48 confirmed measles cases have been recorded in NSW since the start of 2026, leaving public health teams warning that the risk of further community spread remains significantly elevated.

Dr Alvis Zibran, a public health staff specialist with the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, emphasized that ongoing vigilance is critical, especially for individuals who may have visited one of the listed exposure sites. “If you develop symptoms and have been at one of the locations during the specified times, contact your doctor or local health service, including an emergency department,” Dr Zibran advised. “Be sure to call ahead before you arrive to let providers know you may have been exposed to measles, that way you won’t wait in shared waiting rooms with other patients, and always wear a mask during your visit.”

Dr Zibran outlined the key symptoms of measles that the public should watch for: initial symptoms typically include fever, irritated sore eyes, runny nose, and a cough, with a distinctive red, blotchy rash developing three to four days after symptoms first appear. The rash usually starts on the head and face before spreading outward to the rest of the body. Even people who have not visited any of the identified exposure sites should consider testing if they develop these classic symptoms, he added.

Unlike many common infectious diseases, measles can take up to 18 days from the time of exposure for symptoms to emerge, meaning people who may have been exposed need to monitor their health for the full incubation window. The virus spreads easily through respiratory droplets that enter the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, making highly contagious in crowded indoor spaces.

In addition to guidance for people who may have been exposed, public health officials are urging all community members to review their vaccination status to confirm they are protected. “One of the most important messages we can share right now is that people need to ensure their measles vaccinations are up to date,” Dr Zibran said. “Crucially, the measles vaccine can even prevent infection after exposure if it is administered quickly enough.”

Officials recommend that anyone born after 1965 confirm they have received two full doses of the measles vaccine. This check is especially critical before planning any international travel, as active measles outbreaks are currently circulating in multiple regions across the globe. In NSW, the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is provided free of charge as part of the routine childhood immunization schedule, with doses given at 12 months and 18 months of age. The vaccine is also available free of charge to any person born after 1965 who has not yet received two doses.

For children under 12 months of age who are travelling internationally, an additional early dose of the vaccine can be given as early as six months of age, though families are advised to consult with a medical provider before travel. For people who are unsure of their vaccination history, health authorities confirm that receiving an extra dose of MMR is completely safe, and eligible age groups can access the vaccine through general practitioners and participating pharmacies across the state.

Often overlooked for larger, more intimidating predators, the tiny mosquito stands as humanity’s deadliest natural enemy. Each year, this tiny blood-sucking insect claims an estimated 760,000 human lives — a toll far higher than that of lions, snakes, or even humans themselves, which rank a distant second in annual global deaths caused by animal species, data from research outlet Our World in Data shows.

Mosquitoes are responsible for spreading 17% of all infectious diseases globally, including life-threatening conditions such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. As human-caused climate change continues to raise global temperatures, mosquito populations are expanding their ranges into previously uninhabited regions, and longer warm seasons extend their active periods each year, spurring growing concern that these insects could fuel catastrophic new public health crises in the coming decades.

Against this backdrop, a critical question has emerged for the global scientific community: can humanity safely eliminate the most dangerous mosquito species to stop the spread of disease, and what would be the environmental costs of such a move?

To start, experts note that a global eradication campaign would not need to target the more than 3,500 known mosquito species. Out of this entire diversity, only around 100 species actually bite humans, and just five species are responsible for roughly 95% of all mosquito-borne human infections, according to Hilary Ranson, a leading vector biologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, in an interview with AFP.

On balance, Ranson argues that the loss of these five high-risk species could be easily tolerated, given the enormous harm they inflict globally, from hundreds of thousands of annual deaths to crippling long-term economic damage in affected regions. Dan Peach, a mosquito entomologist at the University of Georgia, shares this broad perspective but stresses that more research is needed to fully compare the risks and benefits of eradication against alternative disease control strategies.

Ranson explains that the five disease-carrying mosquito species have evolved to be extremely closely tied to human habitats, feeding on people and breeding in areas close to human settlements. This close association means eradicating these specific species would not cause major disruption to broader global ecosystems, she argues. In their absence, other genetically similar, non-lethal mosquito species would likely quickly fill the vacant ecological niche left behind.

Peach, however, cautions that the scientific community still lacks a full understanding of the ecological role of most mosquito species, so it is impossible to be completely certain of the outcome of eradication. Even with this knowledge gap, he notes that it is reasonable to acknowledge the uncertainty and still move forward with controlled research and testing. Mosquitoes do play measurable roles in ecosystems: they transfer nutrients from their aquatic larval habitats to terrestrial food webs, serve as a key food source for fish, birds, insects and other animals, and contribute to pollination of some plant species, though the extent of this pollination role remains poorly understood and varies widely between species, Peach adds.

Ranson also acknowledges the legitimate ethical debate around the concept of human-driven “specicide” — the intentional extinction of an entire species — but points out that human activity is already unintentionally driving the extinction of thousands of species globally every year.

For researchers pursuing targeted elimination of dangerous mosquito populations, two leading technological strategies are currently under development and testing. The most high-profile new approach is gene drive technology, a genetic engineering tool that modifies organisms to ensure a desired trait is passed down to nearly all offspring, rather than the roughly 50% inheritance seen in natural reproduction.

In laboratory trials, scientists used gene drive to modify female Anopheles gambiae — the primary mosquito species that spreads malaria — to be infertile, and the modification wiped out an entire lab population of the insects in just a few generations. Target Malaria, a non-profit research project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has already begun conducting field trials of the technology in several African nations. However, the project suffered a major setback last year when Burkina Faso’s military-led government suspended testing in the country, after the work faced criticism from local civil society groups and became a target of widespread disinformation campaigns.

A second, more established strategy involves infecting Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the primary spreaders of dengue, with the naturally occurring bacteria Wolbachia. The bacteria can either crash local mosquito populations or simply reduce the insects’ ability to transmit the dengue virus to humans, leading to an alternative approach: instead of killing the mosquitoes, can we simply make them harmless to people?

Research published last year found that when sterile, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were released in the Brazilian city of Niteroi, local dengue cases dropped by 89% compared to previous years. Today, more than 16 million people across 15 countries are protected by this approach, with no recorded negative ecological or public health consequences, according to Scott O’Neill, founder of the World Mosquito Program, speaking to AFP.

Other projects are also working on alternative genetic approaches: the Transmission Zero initiative is working to use gene drive technology not to eradicate Anopheles gambiae, but to modify the species so it can no longer spread the malaria parasite at all. Laboratory research published in *Nature* late last year found the project is making significant progress toward this goal, with the team planning to launch its first in-country field trial in 2030.

Even with these technological advances, the Burkina Faso setback highlighted a key requirement for success: any new mosquito control technology must have sustained political support and local buy-in from the communities and nations where it is tested, according to Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera, a researcher at Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute.

Experts warn that there is no single “magic bullet” to solve the threat of mosquito-borne diseases. Ranson argues that rather than relying solely on high-tech solutions, most of which are funded by the Gates Foundation, the global community needs to pursue a more holistic, multifaceted approach to reducing disease burden. This includes expanding access to affordable diagnosis, treatment, improved housing and more effective vaccines for people in high-burden countries.

Over the past year, however, sweeping cuts to foreign aid from Western nations have threatened the significant progress made against mosquito-borne diseases over the last two decades, humanitarian organizations have warned, putting hundreds of thousands of lives at renewed risk.

Indonesia is grappling with one of the world’s worst measles outbreaks in recent years, a public health crisis fueled by plummeting childhood vaccination rates that have dropped sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic and deep-rooted misinformation spreading across social media platforms.

For many parents like Fitri Fransiskha, a 40-year-old stay-at-home mother of four based in Banten province on the western tip of Java, fear of vaccines took root after her first child developed a mild fever following an infant tuberculosis shot. That initial anxiety was amplified by viral falsehoods circulating online that claim routine vaccines cause paralysis, developmental behavioral disorders, and even death. Instead of immunizing her children against the highly contagious, potentially fatal measles virus, Fitri relies on nutrient-dense diets and vitamin supplements to keep her family healthy. Even the ongoing surge in cases has not changed her mind.

Fitri is far from alone. As the world’s fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has seen a steady rise in vaccine refusal among parents, even as public health officials race to contain the growing outbreak. Data from the Indonesian Paediatrics Association confirms the country now has the second-highest number of measles cases globally, outranked only by conflict-ravaged Yemen.

Official health data underscores the severity of the crisis: in the first three months of 2026 alone, authorities recorded more than 8,000 suspected measles cases and 10 confirmed deaths. From 2024 to 2025, annual cases more than doubled to over 63,000, resulting in 69 fatalities. A January research paper published in the *Indonesian Journal of Internal Medicine* noted that measles, once on the brink of global elimination, has re-emerged as a major public health danger across Indonesia.

Public health experts trace the crisis to widespread vaccine misinformation amplified by vocal anti-vaccine activists across popular Indonesian social platforms. A recent study from local data analytics firm Drone Emprit found anti-vaccine content on nearly all of the country’s largest social media networks, reaching a very large share of the population. Ismail Fahmi, founder of Drone Emprit, explained that while anti-vaccine advocates make up a smaller share of users, they are far more vocal and active online than pro-vaccine communities. Many popular influencers, he added, use their platforms to push unproven herbal alternatives to routine vaccination, amplifying distrust in immunization. In March, AFP’s fact-checking team debunked a widespread viral falsehood claiming that natural infection with measles provides stronger protection than approved vaccines.

Religious concerns have also deepened vaccine hesitancy in the Muslim-majority nation, where pork products are forbidden under Islamic law. Some parents refuse vaccines because certain products contain gelatine derived from pigs, which they argue violates halal dietary rules. Yusran, a 46-year-old entrepreneur based in Makassar, South Sulawesi, has refused to vaccinate any of his five children over halal concerns, saying his children remain healthy without immunization. Even so, Indonesia’s highest Islamic authority, the Indonesian Ulema Council, issued a 2018 fatwa ruling that vaccines are permissible for protecting public health even when they contain porcine gelatine, a clarification that has failed to reach all hesitant communities.

The combination of misinformation and religious hesitancy has done severe damage to the country’s herd immunity, the threshold of vaccination required to stop measles from spreading easily through communities. “Our herd immunity has been compromised,” explained Riris Andono Ahmad, an epidemiologist at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. Currently, only around 76% of Indonesian children receive both required doses of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine, far below the 95% coverage needed to hit herd immunity and eradicate the virus.

The Indonesian government has made urgent moves to reverse the trend: with a goal of eradicating measles and rubella by the end of 2026, authorities launched an emergency mass vaccination campaign in March across more than 100 regencies and cities, including MR booster shots for over 220,000 frontline health workers. The government has also partnered with leading religious organizations to spread accurate information and encourage parents to vaccinate their children. Indri Yogyaswari, the country’s director of immunization, told reporters that the campaign has already helped reduce measles transmission significantly. Even so, official health ministry data shows that infant first-dose MR vaccination coverage dropped 10 percentage points between 2024 and 2025, leaving the 2026 eradication goal well out of reach at current coverage levels.

A Dutch-flagged cruise vessel that experienced a deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three people departed the Canary Islands of Spain on Monday, heading toward its home port of Rotterdam after all remaining passengers were disembarked, repatriated and placed in quarantine across multiple countries.

The outbreak on the MV Hondius, operated by Netherlands-based cruise firm Oceanwide Expeditions, triggered a global public health alert after the rare rodent-borne virus was detected on board. Unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, global and national health officials have repeatedly emphasized that the general public faces a very low risk of transmission, and that no broad public alarm is warranted, despite the fact that no targeted vaccine or specific curative treatment exists for hantavirus infections.

According to on-site reporting from Agence France-Presse, the last 28 passengers and personnel were removed from the vessel before it set sail from the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife on Monday evening. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed in an official statement that the 6-day voyage to Rotterdam is scheduled to arrive at the port on the evening of May 17, 2026. The vessel remains crewed by 25 full-time staff and two medical personnel, and is also transporting the remains of a German passenger who died during the outbreak.

The multi-day, large-scale evacuation wrapped up on Sunday, when 94 people representing 19 nationalities were safely removed from the ship. Spanish health authorities originally only granted permission for the vessel to anchor offshore due to public health protocols, but unfavorable weather conditions forced the ship to dock at the Granadilla industrial port. Spanish officials stressed that all public safety measures were strictly enforced to prevent any contact between people on the ship and local communities. Medical teams escorted all evacuees directly from the vessel to the Tenerife airport for repatriation flights, following mandatory health screenings at every step. The final group of evacuees removed on Monday included citizens of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and remaining crew members.

As of Monday, eight confirmed cases of hantavirus and two additional probable cases have been recorded across the outbreak, with people from six countries affected, according to data from the World Health Organization and national health agencies. Multiple countries have already reported confirmed infections among repatriated passengers: A French woman repatriated to Paris tested positive for the virus after developing symptoms Sunday night; one Spanish evacuee has also tested positive, while 13 other Spanish evacuees returned negative results. U.S. health authorities confirmed one American evacuee with mild symptoms and a second positive case of the Andes virus, the only strain of hantavirus that can spread from human to human.

In the Netherlands, 12 staff members at Radboud University Medical Center have been placed in six-week preventive quarantine after procedural errors occurred when handling blood work and disposing of urine samples from an infected evacuee being treated at the facility. Hospital officials noted the quarantine is a precautionary measure, as the overall risk of infection remains low.

Health agencies around the world are currently conducting contact tracing operations, tracking all passengers who disembarked the vessel before the full evacuation, as well as any individuals who may have had close contact with infected evacuees.

The origin of the outbreak remains a point of discussion between international health authorities. The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina – where hantavirus is endemic – on April 1 for an Atlantic cruise bound for Cape Verde. The WHO has stated it believes the initial infection occurred before the voyage departed, with secondary human-to-human transmission taking place on board the ship. However, Argentine health officials have raised questions about this timeline, pointing to the virus’s multi-week incubation period and other epidemiological factors to cast doubt on the theory that the outbreak originated in Ushuaria.

In a video address shared by the cruise line on Monday, MV Hondius Captain Jan Dobrogowski praised the resilience of everyone on board during the weeks-long crisis, highlighting the “unity and quiet strength” of passengers and the “courage and selfless resolve” of the crew that remained on the vessel to sail it back to Rotterdam.