The incident on the MV Hondius cruise ship, where a hantavirus outbreak occurred, has brought to light some significant weaknesses in the US public health system. This is a troubling sign, especially as it raises concerns about our ability to quickly contain such outbreaks and prepare for potential future pandemics involving more widespread pathogens. While passengers and their close contacts are certainly at risk and need to follow public health guidelines, for most people, the danger of hantavirus is extremely low. Experts anticipate that more cases from this incident will be identified, but they are very clear that a hantavirus…

Our world is grappling with a relentless surge of health misinformation, and I, an epidemiologist, find myself at the forefront of this battle. It’s a strange new reality, where my social media followers have become an early-warning system, alerting me to the latest waves of false claims before they even hit my radar. Just this week, a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, the MV Hondius, ignited a familiar and troubling pattern. Within hours of the first news headlines, my direct messages were flooded with screenshots. One particularly egregious example came from a Texas doctor infamous for promoting ivermectin during…