Quick takes: Canada hantavirus case confirmed, ACIP charter withdrawn, HHS antibiotic resistance meeting

News brief

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed a positive case of hantavirus in a Canadian passenger on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. A sample from the passenger, who has been in isolation, was confirmed positive for the Andes strain of hantavirus at PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. A traveling partner tested negative, and PHAC says no further cases have been identified. In related news, a US passenger currently in isolation at a special quarantine unit in Nebraska told the New York Times she received a federal order to stay at the facility for at least two more weeks and is being denied the right to quarantine at home. The passenger said she has tested negative for hantavirus and is not experiencing symptoms but had brief conversations with a passenger on the ship who died from the virus.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has withdrawn a charter renewal for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), according to Reuters. The charter, issued on April 6 after a federal judge ruled that members named to the federal advisory board by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were not qualified under the group’s original charter, changed the qualifications for ACIP membership and expanded its focus to include vaccine risks and gaps in safety evidence. HHS officials said the new charter was withdrawn because of an administrative error. Since becoming HHS secretary, Kennedy has sought to shape ACIP by adding more vaccine-skeptical voices.
After a nearly two-year hiatus, HHS has scheduled a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB). According to a posting in the Federal Registry, the next meeting of the group will be held on June 16. PACCARB was established in 2014 to provide recommendations to HHS for addressing the threat of drug-resistant bacteria. Its last meeting was in August 2024. The focus of the upcoming meeting is to provide input and information to a federal task force developing the next iteration of a five-year national action plan for antibiotic resistance.