Outbreak of deadly viruses a 'wakeup call'
By: Charles Trepany
USA Today
..... Six years after COVID-19 swept the world, the news cycle is once again abuzz with reports of deadly diseases.
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A fatal hantavirus outbreak recently hit the MV Hondius cruise ship, sending American passengers into a lengthy quarantine in Nebraska. and this past week, [05/14/2026] an Ebola outbreak has rocked central Africa, causing the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency. Both outbraks, while serious, do not meet pandemic levels, the organization said.
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But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be taken seriously, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. After all these pathogens, hes says, signify an important trend: "zoonotic spillover epidemics" or outbreaks caused by viruses spread to humans from animals, are becoming more common. In fat, Hotez says we can expect one every year or so.
..... It's not cause for panic. But it is a wakeup call.
..... The recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks were born from pathogens spread from animals to humans, said Hotez. Hantavirus typically spread to humans via the dropping and saliva of rodents, while Ebola tends to get transmitted from animals.
..... "This is our new normal," Hotex said. "every year, we should expect to see a three year, we should expected to see a major zooonotic spillover event, and a serious epidemic."
..... Why is that? Hotez said health professionals can't say for sure. But one possibility could be climate change, which has led to more interactions between humans and wildlife.
..... "With the rising temperatures, altered climate patterns, altered weather patterns, altered rainfall patterns, what;s happening is animal hosts are migrating to seek new habitats to improve access to their food a=or their shelter," Hotez said.
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Another potential factor, he says, is urban population expansion.
..... "It's not just the bats and rats coming closer to the people; it's the people coming closer to the bats and rats," Horetz said. "We are now starting to see the formation of these ginormous megacities of 10, 15, 20 million people or more, especially in low and middle income countries, and, with that, deforestation. So, it's people coming closer toward animal habitat."
..... Hotez encourages health authorities to act preemptively by working on vaccines and treatments for illnesses that could likely emerge.
..... "We need to get ready. Now that zoonotic spillover epidemics are going to be the new normal, this is a time to be reinforcing our infrastructure," he said. "We need to be gearing up our ability to develop new countermeasures for these illnesses, improve our ability to make better diagnostics, better antiviral drugs. And, of course, ahivng vaccines available for all of these, as well as therapies suing monoclonal antibodies."
..... Contributing: Dana Taylor USA Today