Lack of U.S. response to hantavirus outbreak worries public health experts

Public health experts are raising concerns about why the U.S. government hasn't had a more public response to the hantavirus outbreak that started on a cruise ship. SCOTT DETROW, HOST: Public health experts are raising alarms about what they see as a muted public response by the U.S. government to the hantavirus outbreak. The outbreak started on a cruise ship, and as NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, there are now eight cases of the rodent-borne disease, including three deaths. GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: On April 11, a Dutch man aboard the cruise ship died after contracting hantavirus. It was not until the evening of May 6 - 3 1/2 weeks later - that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first statement on the topic. It was three paragraphs and said the State Department is leading a whole-of-government response, but it lacked details. That surprised Carlos del Rio, of Emory University's School of Public Health. He says, at this point, cruise ship passengers had already disembarked to over a dozen countries, including the U.S. CARLOS DEL RIO: CDC typically would put out something called HANs, the health alert notice (ph). EMANUEL: When he spoke with media yesterday, del Rio says that this notice would have provided guidance to the medical community, the latest outbreak details, as well as information on how the disease spreads and how to contain it. …