Anjana Ahuja

I did a lot of interviews today about Hantavirus and tried to answer a lot of questions. If you're freaking out, here are things you should know: 1) I'm not freaking out. Like, at all. On a scale of 1-10 of worry, I'm at <1. I've spent a long time preparing for and responding to dangerous outbreaks. I've worked onboard vessels at sea that needed to disembark sick passengers. THIS situation is not my nightmare, promise. 2) When WOULD I freak out? If we learned that transmission was much more common and much easier than what we've seen so far, and that many more people were sick. I do expect a few more positive cases, and wouldn't be surprised if we seen a few tied to folks who traveled back to their homes. But I don't expect hundreds of cases. Or thousands. Or for this to be the next pandemic, at all. 3) What I'm being careful about—We know a lot about this type of Hantavirus, but there's still a lot we can learn. Over the next few weeks, we'll get a better understanding of how well it transmits, who might be at greater risk, and whether we need to update what we thought we knew. But transmission on a cruise ship likely doesn't reflect much about how this plays out in the 'real world'. Suffice it to say, we're gonna learn a lot, and some things we 'know' will likely change. 4) The U.S. is catching up—sending CDC disease detectives to the ship to accompany American passengers home—but we were WAY too flat-footed here. We should've been on the ball earlier on. But when we pull down the systems we've built over decades to respond to stuff like this—think all the USAID cuts, the CDC cuts, the NIH cuts, and severing the relationship with the WHO—we are gonna be spending a lot of time catching up as opposed to leading the response. That's a huge shame. 5) The WHO is doing a helluva job right now. They have put out real clear communications, are working with governments to coordinate travel and quarantines and testing. We would be in a MUCH MUCH worse spot right now if it wasn't for the WHO, promise. 6) The American passengers are going to a special facility in Nebraska for 'special pathogens' like Hantavirus. Many folks don't know that we have over a dozen specialized centers all over the U.S. that can treat patients just like this. We keep them on the ready at all times, which takes massive amounts of human resources, supplies, and funding. Thankfully their funding has been protected over the past decade, but this is exactly why we need to maintain support for this constant readiness. We'd never take away firefighters' hoses and water and expect them to respond perfectly to the next fire...we must treat preparation for all health threats the same! 7) The folks I'm talking to at the CDC—the 'boots on the ground' disease detectives and epidemiologists—are doing amazing work. But where the hell is our health leadership right now? RFK Jr, are you going to say anything about what we're doing to respond? I'll share soon, and let me know your questions below...