In 2025, the Trump administration canceled funding for a pilot project studying the hantavirus, which has been confirmed to be behind an ongoing outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Oceanwide Expeditions
The project aimed to better understand how hantavirus passes from rodents to humans. It was being conducted through the West African Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (WAC-EID), part of the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID). All 10 CREID centers were shut down in 2025 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The NIH cut funding for the WAC-EID research program, saying that its research “has been deemed unsafe for Americans and not a good use of taxpayer funding. Current agency priorities do not support this work.” Virologists working with CREID asserted that there was no evidence of their work being unsafe.
The 10 CREID centers were launched in 2020 with $82 million in funding to collect and characterize pathogens that could jump from animals to people. The NIH had planned to renew the work, but instead issued a stop-work order on June 5, 2025.
While this research likely could not have prevented this outbreak, funding cuts to this kind of research can make the U.S. and the world more vulnerable to pandemics, Scott Weaver, WAC-EID’s former principal investigator, told Scientific American.
Most hantavirus cases are contracted through exposure to rodents and their feces and urine. The Andes virus, which infected several passengers on the cruise ship, is an exception and has been known to spread from human to human. Experts know little about the specifics of hantavirus transmission because cases are so rare.
People are usually infected with hantavirus when they breathe in dust contaminated with mouse or rat droppings, urine or saliva. Symptoms include fever, headaches and muscle aches, which progress to severe breathing problems, heart failure and shock.
The current outbreak consists of seven known cases. How the virus was transmitted is currently unknown. There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus, so patients depend on supportive care like oxygen, IV fluids or ventilators.
The WHO released a statement on May 4, stating that the risk to the global population is low.
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