The deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a Dutch-operated cruise ship with passengers of 23 nationalities is precisely the type of public health crisis the World Health Organization is designed to tackle. But the U.S. formally left the WHO in January, after 78 years of membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, health experts say, the U.S. might not get immediate access to surveillance data about the virus and contact tracing information about cases linked to the ship, which could help prevent additional infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe access that we got as being members and as being important donors to WHO is gone,\u201d said Amira Albert Roess, a professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ordinarily, Roess said, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts would have been part of the teams sequencing the virus. Now, the U.S. might have to learn about results secondhand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about those concerns, the Department of Health and Human Services referred NBC News to a statement on the CDC website, which says that the State Department has been in direct contact with cruise ship passengers and that the government is \u201cworking closely with our international partners to provide technical assistance and guidance to mitigate risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe White House continues to work with the CDC and State Department to monitor and respond to a recent outbreak of the Andes virus,\u201d White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. \u201cWhile possible risks to the American public remain low, the CDC has convened leading experts on Andes virus to assist in this effort to ensure Americans are protected. The entire Administration remains vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHO officials said in a Thursday news conference that they were exchanging information with the U.S. thanks to international health regulations that require countries to report public health threats of international concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have very positive, regular interaction almost every single day,\u201d said Ana\u00efs Legand, WHO\u2019s technical lead for viral hemorrhagic fevers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Stephanie Psaki, who was the coordinator for global health security during the Biden administration, said that when the U.S. was a WHO member, it often received advanced updates about disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy the time the information is shared publicly, certainly \u2014 but sometimes even through the [International Health Regulations] networks \u2014 the experts at WHO and CDC often already knew it for days or weeks,\u201d Psaki, now a senior fellow at the Brown University School of Public Health, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump announced his intent for the U.S. to leave the WHO soon after taking office last year, citing what he described as \u201cthe organization\u2019s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic\u201d as a main reason. Until then, the U.S. had been one of the organization\u2019s top donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With its departure, the U.S. terminated all funding to the WHO, pulled its staffers from WHO offices and severed participation in WHO committees and working groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some experts now worry that the WHO can\u2019t draw fully from the CDC\u2019s resources and expertise to respond to the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven when there are lots of actors involved who have the capacity and willingness to contain the threat and respond to the threat, it happens more quickly \u2014 and often more effectively \u2014 when the U.S. government is involved,\u201d Psaki said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 150 people remain on the cruise ship, confined to their cabins and monitoring for symptoms of the deadly virus. The ship is headed for the Canary Islands and evacuations could begin on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three passengers have died. The first two were a Dutch husband and wife who had visited sites on a birdwatching trip in Argentina where a species of rat known to carry the Andes strain was present. Then a German woman died on May 2, just days after developing symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In total, five current or former passengers have been confirmed to have been infected. Three more cases are suspected. The virus\u2019 incubation period can last up to six weeks, so more cases may still emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than two dozen passengers from 12 countries disembarked from the cruise ship on April 24 in St. Helena, a British territory. That included six Americans, according to the cruise ship\u2019s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions. Some of those passengers are now in Arizona, California, Georgia and Virginia, according to authorities in those states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seventeen American passengers remained on the cruise ship as of Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a critical example of why the U.S. needs global public health partnerships. The withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) puts people in the U.S. at higher risk and raises an important question: Are countries still sharing information with the U.S. quickly enough to keep us safe?\u201d the National Public Health Coalition, a group of current and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hantavirus, which causes fever, fatigue, nausea and trouble breathing, is typically contracted through contact with rodents or their urine, feces or saliva. Infections are rare \u2014 around 230 cases were recorded in the Americas last year \u2014 but the fatality rate for the virus in that region is up to 50%, according to the WHO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strain involved in the cruise ship outbreak, known as the Andes strain, is primarily carried by the pygmy rice rat, found in South America. It\u2019s the only version of the virus known to be transmissible between humans, though that\u2019s not the primary route of transmission. When it does spread between people, it\u2019s usually among those who have had close, prolonged contact. The virus has no known cure, so doctors try to manage symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psaki said it\u2019s unusual that the CDC hasn\u2019t held a public briefing about the outbreak yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t inspire confidence when it\u2019s already public that people have traveled back to the U.S. before there\u2019s any information shared by CDC. That\u2019s not the order that it should go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n