What to know about the hantavirus outbreak
Deadly hantavirus and ebola outbreaks have raised pandemic fears. Dr. Peter Hotez explains that the risk of zoonotic diseases is rising.
An Air France flight scheduled to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Wednesday, May 20 was diverted to Montreal over concerns of a possible Ebola virus exposure on board.
“Air France boarded a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo in error on a flight to the United States,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement to Free Press Wednesday evening. “Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane. CBP took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveler from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada.”
Online records show that Air France flight 378 was scheduled to land at Metro at about 6:40 p.m. FlightAware, a digital aviation company that bills itself as the world’s largest flight tracking platform lists flight 378 as diverted to Montreal, landing there at 5:15 p.m. The flight eventually landed in Detroit at 8:18 p.m. according to the airport’s website.
On May 18, the CDC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a 30-day travel ban on non-U.S. passport holders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Uganda, as well as screenings at airports and other points of entry for all travelers who departed from airports in those countries or have visited them in the last 21 days.
In a document set to be published in the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security said that it was routing all passengers who have been physically present in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan in the past 21 days to Washington-Dulles International Airport “where the U.S. government is focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures.”
The order applies to flights that depart after 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, May 20, 2026.
On May 17, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern.
At least 139 people are believed to have died in the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola as of Wednesday, May 20, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and roughly 600 people have suspected cases.
He cautioned that the case count and number of deaths are likely to grow because the virus spread largely undetected for weeks in the DRC, which makes tracing and containing it very difficult. In addition, there are no vaccines or therapeutic treatments for the Bundibugyo type.
An American doctor working in the region now is sick with Ebola and was airlifted earlier this week to a hospital in Germany, where he was in stable condition on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Six other Americans are believed to have had high-risk exposure to the virus and are being isolated in Europe.
“Other American citizens identified as having high-risk exposures are also being moved from DRC to Germany and the Czech Republic as we speak,” said Dr. Satish K. Pillai, incident manager for CDC’s Ebola response, during a May 20 news conference. “These people, who remain asymptomatic, are being moved to ensure that they have access to the specialized care if needed. Medical transports for volunteers working in the region are conducted using procedures and protocols that are designed to protect the public, health care workers, and other staff every step of the way.”
Reuters reported that another U.S. doctor who came into contact with a patient infected with Ebola was to be transferred from Uganda to a hospital in Prague.
Pillai did not directly answer questions during the news conference about why Americans sick with Ebola and those who are considered high-risk exposures were taken to Europe for isolation and treatment, rather than to U.S. hospitals and quarantine facilities.
Instead, he said: “The assessments for movement plans to Germany the Czech Republic were based on the very dynamic situation and the need to move quickly. And so, these locations were chosen based on the needs that were present at that time. … We are continuing to develop and operationalize plans and on, you know, further movement; and we’ll be working hand in glove with our state and local public health departments.”
Additionally, it says it will:
- Work to identify travelers who may have been exposed to Ebola by coordinating with airlines, port-of-entry officials and international partners
- Enhance contact tracing, laboratory testing capacity and hospital readiness.
- Continue to deploy CDC personnel to support outbreak containment efforts in the affected regions.
“We work to ensure layers of safety are built into the process and support is provided, including health assessments, exit screenings, port of entries assessment, and coordination with health departments,” Pillai said. He later added: “Currently, the risk to the United States remains low.”
Ebola disease is a severe, often fatal type of viral hemorrhagic fever that can spread to humans if they have contact with the blood, bodily fluids or organs of infected animals in central Africa, such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines, according to the World Health Organization.
It also can spread from person to person with direct contact with the blood or body fluids of someone who is sick Ebola disease or someone who has died from the disease. People also can contract the virus after touching objects or surfaces that have been contaminated with the blood or body fluids of an infected person and then touching mucous membranes or open wounds, as well.
The average fatality rate for all types of Ebola is 50%, but the WHO reports that it has varied from 25% to 90% in previous outbreaks.
The incubation period for Ebola disease from the time of infection to when symptoms appear can range from two days to 21 days, according to the WHO, and symptoms initially can include fever, fatigue, malaise, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
Those typically are followed by vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and rash, along with impaired kidney function and liver function.
The WHO reports that bleeding tends to be a less common symptom that can occur later in the disease process, and some patients might experience bleeding from the nose, gums, vagina as well as blood in vomit and feces.
Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected].
Contact John Wisely: [email protected].
