Thread by @PeterHotez

1/n: I could be wrong, of course, but my take about this hantavirus outbreak is less about the actual outbreak and more about what it means in the context of the last two decades and moving forward. Let me explain...

2/n: As I said on BBC this evening, we might see additional cases, but I don't think this will be a major epidemic beyond the obvious human tragedy of those who lost their lives, and possibly a few others who could still get very sick.

3/n: New World hantavirus infections are rough stuff, once symptoms begin, the resulting cytokine storm and ARDS means there's not much of a window before getting them into an ICU, and often on ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which requires a high level of skill.

4/n: But beyond this I don't envision a significant number of additional cases, I could be wrong, and we'll know more in the coming days. But in my view, the bigger issue is this.

5/n: We are seeing zoonotic spillover events with increasing frequency, just among the better known ones, the list includes:
SARS-1 CoV (2002)
MERS CoV (2012)
Ebola (2014)
Ebola (2019)
SARS-2 CoV (2019)
MPox (2022)
H5N1 (2024)
ANDIV (2026)

6/n: Also increasing spread of arbovirus infections, especially those accelerating out of Brazil and reaching more populated areas of Southeast Brazil, or the Caribbean and then Texas and Gulf Coast:
Dengue
Zika
Chikungunya
Yellow Fever
Oropouche
Others

7/n: I liken these occurrences...get ready for a really bad metaphor, but you known what I mean, to the first scenes of the 1980 Ghostbusters movies, the green blob is on the dining room table, and the skeleton is in the taxi, but there are more ominous things to come

8/n: Exactly why the increasing zoonotic spillovers and rising arthropod borne illnesses is open to conjecture but I believe it's climate change pushing animal reservoirs to explore new habitats, together with deforestation and urbanization. It's animals and vectors closer to humans and people coming closer to animals and vectors

9/n: We should therefore expect this to be our new normal, but we are not ready...

10/n: On the U.S. side our Dept HHS has dismantled pandemic preparedness. We have dropped our active surveillance, canceled contracts for new interventions, including vaccines, and allowed incurious ideologues to run the show. I believe our U.S. biosecurity is at an all time low

11/n: Also pulling out of @WHO makes no sense, and I don't even know the status of operationalizing the 2025 pandemic accords, probably not good.

@WHO 12/n: We're closing our eyes and promoting pandemic and climate denialism just zoonotic spillover and arthropod-borne virus infections are accelerated at an unprecedented rate.

@WHO 13/n: For instance with this ANDIV hantavirus outbreak, we should have had a therapeutic monoclonal antibody already in hand, and vaccine contracts already in place. Instead we are fighting this outbreak the same way we did one hundred years ago.

@WHO 14/n: Again, I don't think this particular hantavirus outbreak will accelerate much beyond where it is now, but that's not the point. It's a wake-up call.

@WHO 15/n: As I sometimes say (Ann hates this metaphor), "Mother Nature is not being coy," she's telling us exactly what the plan is, an acceleration in zoonotic spillover events due to climate change, deforestation, and urbanization, same for arthropod-borne illnesses

@WHO 16/n: In our recent book, #ScienceUnderSiege, @MichaelEMann @PeterHotez we spelled some of this out. Humanity now faces a triple-headed monster: Pandemics, Climate Change, and the Disinformation blocking our ability to respond.

@WHO @MichaelEMann 17/n: In my view this three-headed monster is an existential threat to America and the Western Hemisphere, maybe globally, and simply putting out ideologues who deny it all helps no one.

@WHO @MichaelEMann 18/n: That's it...