A SECOND OPINION
A Second Opinion welcomes the freely written articles of our diverse membership, whether these conform to the opinions of our publishers, our Editorial Board or other groups. However, we ask that opinions remain collegial and respectful. The Editorial Board and Oversight Committee reserve the right to choose what is published. We invite you to share your thoughts with us, and to respond to others, at editor @ glms. org. Publication does not represent endorsement by Louisville Medicine or GLMS. Let us hear from you!
Let Them Get Sick
by Mary Barry, MD
This may be the new motto of the CDC.
It took the CDC almost a month after the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak to set up a team to respond to the outbreak, according to reporter Kristina Fiore in the May 6 MedPageToday, the medical newsletter. The New York Times’ Apoorva Mandavilla noted this on May 6 after failing to get any information from either the CDC or the State Department, which was tasked with coordinating our nationwide response. After the NYT report, the CDC issued its first public statement, noting in a classic example of corporate-speak that,“ We are working closely with our international partners to provide technical assistance and guidance to mitigate risk.”
In contrast, the World Health Organization( WHO) was notified quickly and reported on May 4 that on May 2, South African scientists had identified hantavirus as the cause of the illness. However, because the Trump administration had in January 2025 withdrawn the U. S. from WHO membership, we were not included in the news bulletins, since we had at that point rejected the latest WHO regulations. The administration then noted it would need to spend some $ 2 billion to replicate all of the surveillance, coordination, outreach and other skilled labor formerly supplied by the WHO. Prior to this, the U. S. response, acting on information from WHO, would have been assessed and communicated to local health departments within 48 hours.
Two billion dollars is a whole lot of bucks to spend to sponsor nationalistic bluster. If the White House approach is“ Americans do it better,” why was our CDC stripped of hundreds of experts?
Health officials are also trying to trace more than 80 people who
were on the same flight as a 69-year-old passenger who left the ship at St. Helena and then flew to South Africa, where she died on April 26. Her husband had been the first to die of hantavirus, on April 11, aboard ship. As of late May, the CDC, together with local health departments, has been following over 40 former passengers. Eighteen people are quarantined at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. One passenger tested positive and was put into the Biocontainment Unit. The other 23 were sent to the National Quarantine Unit and are reportedly without symptoms. Some are now being allowed to go home, under strict 24 / 7 health monitoring protocols, to finish the required 42 days of isolation. Potentially exposed passengers who took various commercial flights home have been traced and are being monitored by local health departments in multiple states, including Maryland, California, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia and Washington.
Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the NIH and currently also the acting director of the CDC( or what’ s left of it; after President Trump took office in January, three rounds of layoffs have shocked the staff) stated on his appointment to the NIH that“ his goals included withholding research grants from institutions that are not aligned with his conservative views.” He also pushed for the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ compliance with the President’ s Executive order 14187, which made federal advocacy illegal for gender-affirming care for those under 18. NBC News’ Aria Bendix and Erike Edwards reported in October 2025 that more than 1,300 were told they’ d been axed. The next day, around 700 were told,“ OOPS! Nope we notified you in error.” The rest, many of whom worked in the chronic disease area, an apparent focus of RFK Jr.’ s interest, as well as surveyors measuring the health and nutrition of various U. S. population groups, managed to stay employed.
36 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE OPINION