2026年5月29日 美国东部时间上午5:00 / KFF健康新闻
特朗普政府对联邦卫生机构的大幅削减已成为一项政治负担，此前一艘邮轮上爆发了致命的汉坦病毒疫情，而非洲更可怕的埃博拉病毒也开始传播。
至少许多民主党人是这么认为的。
他们借此指责美国在应对疫情方面准备不足——更不用说大流行了——此前特朗普总统削减了公共卫生基础设施和大流行防范工作的岗位和资金。传染病专家已呼吁白宫撤销削减计划，并重新加入世界卫生组织。
与此同时，白宫处于守势，试图安抚饱受大流行之苦的公众，称联邦政府仍能有效应对传染病疫情。
作为亿万富翁商人埃隆·马斯克和政府效能部（DOGE）主导的改革的一部分，美国食品药品监督管理局和疾病控制与预防中心进行了大规模裁员，同时还取消了数十亿美元的联邦合同和拨款。
“这些疫情爆发之际，美国公共卫生基础设施正承受着巨大压力，”急诊医生、前巴尔的摩卫生专员利安娜·温说道，“疾控中心目前没有局长，食品药品监督管理局也没有局长，没有卫生部长，许多具备疫情应对管理经验的领导人已经离开了联邦政府。”
美国政府已下令实施隔离措施，并对邮轮上的汉坦病毒潜在接触者进行监测。随着刚果民主共和国和乌干达的埃博拉疫情确诊疑似病例超过1000例，美国也正在对外国旅客实施新的限制措施。尽管目前这两起疫情都不太可能演变为全球大流行，但民主党人和传染病领域的领导人已借此批评政府效能部的削减政策以及其他政府公共卫生政策的影响。
汉坦病毒集群疫情发生在MV洪迪乌斯号探险邮轮上，该船于4月1日从阿根廷出发，搭载近150人进行为期一个月的航行。最早的病例（包括两起死亡病例）于5月2日上报给世界卫生组织。11名受感染乘客中已有3人死亡。汉坦病毒通常通过啮齿动物传播给人类，但此次的安第斯型汉坦病毒可在人际间传播。
埃博拉疫情已引发公众关注，尽管美国尚未确诊病例。这种名为邦巴尤的罕见毒株尚无经证实有效的疫苗或治疗方法，且在数周内未被发现，促使世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞表示，他对疫情的“规模和速度”感到担忧。美国国务院已将7名接触过病毒的美国人（包括一名医生）撤离至德国。
民主党人批评削减政策
一些民主党人正敦促政府重新加入世界卫生组织，并恢复对联邦机构的资金支持。美国国际开发署——美国提供对外援助的主要机构——的解散一事仍在诉讼中。美国国际开发署的核心活动包括在包括刚果民主共和国在内的脆弱地区建设本地疫情监测和防控能力。
参议员克里斯·墨菲（康涅狄格州民主党）指出了埃博拉病例数上升带来的新威胁，并于5月27日在X平台上发文称：“我们知道如何阻止此类疫情。但特朗普选择不去阻止。他摧毁了我们的全球卫生团队，刻意将我们暴露在风险之中。”
参议员迪克·德宾（伊利诺伊州民主党）于5月21日在X平台上表示，特朗普政府的“全面且自毁式的对外援助削减”使得美国和刚果难以控制埃博拉疫情。
“这是政府效能部制造的混乱带来的完全可预见的结果，”他说道。
而在汉坦病毒疫情爆发后，参议院少数党领袖、纽约州的查克·舒默呼吁政府重新雇佣被解雇的疫情应对工作人员，恢复疾控中心和卫生与公众服务部的资金，并重新加入世界卫生组织的全球疫情预警网络。
“特朗普政府对美国公共卫生防范能力的削弱使得近期的汉坦病毒疫情更加令人担忧，”舒默5月12日在参议院议场说道。
联邦机构反驳了有关汉坦病毒疫情早期应对不力的批评，官员们在社交媒体、新闻发布会和电视采访中坚称他们的工作恰当且有效。
卫生与公众服务部发言人艾米丽·希利亚德表示，联邦政府正在开展跨部门协调响应。她称，有关联邦削减措施危及疫情应对或未来大流行防范能力的说法“完全不准确”。
疾控中心和国务院表示，他们正在确保为埃博拉疫情提供快速病毒检测，并通过国务院在刚果和乌干达的驻外办事处积极部署资源。
“我想向大家保证，疾控中心和我们的联邦合作伙伴正在夜以继日地工作，以确保我们的信息准确无误，行动计划立即得到落实，”领导疾控中心埃博拉应对工作的萨蒂什·皮莱在5月19日的电话新闻发布会上说道。
问题频发区
批评声并非仅来自民主党人。公共卫生官员也表示，特朗普政府的行动阻碍了两起疫情的应对，而对美国国际开发署的削减为埃博拉病毒的传播埋下了隐患。
援助受人道主义危机影响人群的国际救援委员会表示，政府2025年3月的资金削减导致埃博拉疫情震中地区的疾病监测系统缩减。
美国曾为该地区的监测工作以及通过洗手站、淋浴间、厕所和垃圾管理等措施预防感染的疫情防范工作提供资金支持。该委员会称，他们不得不削减相关项目。
“多年的投资不足和近期的资金削减使得许多卫生机构缺乏快速安全响应所需的充足防护装备、监测能力或一线支持，”该委员会驻刚果国家主任希瑟·里奇·克尔在一份声明中说道。
一些流行病学家和前卫生官员表示，联邦政府对此次疫情的整体应对——包括决定不将接触过埃博拉病毒的美国人送回美国治疗——与此前的埃博拉疫情应对形成鲜明对比。这一决定还可能阻碍其他医疗专业人员前往该地区提供帮助。
在2014-2015年西非埃博拉疫情期间，联邦政府最终部署了陆军和海军技术人员及其他军人，负责处理血液检测、建立医疗实验室以及培训当地医护人员。
奥巴马政府时期的埃博拉病毒协调官罗恩·克莱因在接受美国国家公共广播电台采访时表示，美国国际开发署的应急响应团队在当时的实地应对中也发挥了关键作用，从建造治疗室到处理死者安葬事宜。
明尼苏达大学传染病研究与政策中心主任迈克尔·奥斯特霍姆表示，美国国际开发署是“相关项目的关键支撑”。
“随着美国国际开发署的削减，非洲的基础设施已遭到破坏，”他说道，“这让应对工作变得更加困难。”
奥斯特霍姆表示，由于削减政策和政府对mRNA疫苗（新冠疫苗背后的技术）的态度，美国应对真正大流行的能力“一团糟”。去年，白宫在没有证据表明存在健康风险的情况下，取消了近5亿美元的mRNA疫苗开发合同。
奥斯特霍姆称，与传统疫苗开发相比，这种快速发展的技术将能够在大流行期间实现全球疫苗的更快生产。
一些卫生领导人也对美国应对汉坦病毒疫情的方式提出了批评。例如，疾控中心于5月8日发布了关于大西洋邮轮上汉坦病毒病例集群的健康警报，但该警报发出时，部分乘客已于4月底乘坐商业航班抵达美国。
而疾控中心针对MV洪迪乌斯号邮轮疫情的首次新闻发布会于5月9日举行。这次记者电话会比世界卫生组织向公众通报该情况晚了五天。
“首次新闻发布会是在这一事件成为国际新闻之后才召开的，”前巴尔的摩卫生官员温说道。
疾控中心为其应对汉坦病毒疫情的措施进行了辩护。该机构已要求该邮轮的美国乘客留在隔离设施中，并向公众保证国内的整体健康风险较低。
“国家已经做好了准备。疾控中心正专注于此，”医生、医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心主任穆罕默德·奥兹5月11日在白宫对记者说道。
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Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks raise questions about Trump’s health agency cuts
May 29, 2026 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News
The Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal health agencies have become a political liability after a deadly outbreak of hantavirus aboard a cruise ship and the spread of an even more fearsome disease, Ebola, in Africa.
At least that’s the way many Democrats see it.
They have seized on the situation to charge that the U.S. is ill prepared to respond to outbreaks — let alone a pandemic — after President Trump slashed jobs and funding for public health infrastructure and pandemic preparedness. Infectious disease specialists have called on the White House to reverse cuts and rejoin the World Health Organization.
The White House, meanwhile, is on the defensive, trying to reassure a pandemic-weary public that the federal government can still mount effective responses to infectious disease outbreaks.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention underwent massive layoffs as part of an effort led by billionaire businessman Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, that also resulted in the cancellations of billions of dollars in federal contracts and grants.
“These outbreaks are unfolding at a time when the U.S. public health infrastructure is under significant strain,” said Leana Wen, an emergency physician and former Baltimore health commissioner. “The CDC currently lacks a director, the FDA lacks a director, there is no surgeon general, and many leaders with outbreak response management experience have left the federal government.”
The U.S. government has ordered quarantines and is monitoring potential exposures to hantavirus after an outbreak on a cruise ship. It is also implementing new restrictions for foreign travelers amid an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that has grown to more than 1,000 suspected cases. While neither situation is seen as likely to become a global pandemic, Democrats and infectious disease leaders have seized on the outbreaks to criticize the effects of the DOGE cuts and other administration public health policies.
The hantavirus cluster occurred on the MV Hondius, an expedition ship that left Argentina on April 1 for a monthlong sojourn with almost 150 people aboard. The earliest cases, including two deaths, were reported to the WHO on May 2. Three of 11 infected passengers have died. Hantavirus is typically spread to people from rodents, but this version, known as the Andes virus, can be passed person to person.
The Ebola outbreak has captured public attention, though no cases have been confirmed in the U.S. The virus — a rare strain called Bundibugyo, against which there are no proven vaccines or treatments — spread undetected for weeks, prompting WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to say he’s concerned about the “scale and speed” of the outbreak. Seven Americans, including a doctor exposed to the virus, were evacuated to Germany by the U.S. State Department.
Democrats criticize cuts
Some Democrats are pressing the administration to rejoin the WHO and restore funding to federal agencies. A lawsuit is ongoing over the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the primary agency for providing foreign assistance. Core USAID activities included efforts to build local outbreak detection and prevention capacity in vulnerable regions, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) noted the emerging threats associated with the rising Ebola case count, posting May 27 on X: “We know how to stop outbreaks like this. But Trump chose not to stop it. He destroyed our global health team, deliberately exposing us.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said May 21 on X that the Trump administration’s “sweeping and self destructive foreign aid cuts” left the U.S. and Congo struggling to contain the Ebola outbreak.
“An utterly predictable result from the chaos of DOGE,” he said.
And, in the wake of the hantavirus outbreak, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called on the administration to rehire fired outbreak response workers, restore funding at the CDC and Department of Health and Human Services, and rejoin the WHO’s global outbreak warning network.
“The Trump administration’s gutting of America’s public health preparedness has made the recent hantavirus outbreak even more alarming,” Schumer said May 12 on the Senate floor.
Federal agencies pushed back on criticisms about the early response to hantavirus, with officials insisting on social media, at press events, and in TV appearances that their work was appropriate and effective.
The federal government is conducting a coordinated, interagency response, HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said. Claims that federal cuts have imperiled the response or future pandemic preparedness are “completely inaccurate,” Hilliard said.
The CDC and State Department say they are ensuring rapid viral testing is available for the Ebola outbreak and are actively deploying resources through State Department country offices in Congo and Uganda.
“I want to assure you that CDC and our federal partners are working around the clock to ensure our information is accurate and that action plans are being implemented immediately,” Satish Pillai, who is leading the CDC’s Ebola response, said in a May 19 press call.
Trouble spots
The criticism isn’t just coming from Democrats. Public health officials also say that Trump administration actions have hampered the response to both outbreaks and that the cuts to USAID helped set the stage for the spread of Ebola.
The International Rescue Committee, which helps people affected by humanitarian crises, has said funding cuts by the administration in March 2025 prompted a reduction in disease surveillance systems in the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.
The U.S. had funded the surveillance, as well as outbreak preparedness efforts to prevent infections, with hand-washing stations, showers, latrines, and waste management. The committee said it had to cut programming.
“Years of underinvestment and recent funding cuts have left many health facilities without adequate protective equipment, surveillance capacity, or frontline support needed to respond quickly and safely,” Heather Reoch Kerr, the committee’s country director in Congo, said in a statement.
The federal government’s overall response to the outbreak, including the decision not to fly Americans exposed to Ebola to the U.S. for treatment, stands in sharp contrast with previous responses to Ebola, some epidemiologists and former health officials say. It also could discourage other medical professionals from traveling to the region to help.
During the 2014-15 outbreak in West Africa, the federal government eventually deployed Army and Navy technicians and other service members to process blood tests, build medical labs, and train local healthcare workers.
USAID emergency response teams also played a key role in the on-the-ground response to that Ebola outbreak, from building treatment rooms to handling burial of the dead, Ron Klain, Ebola czar during the Obama administration, said on NPR.
Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said USAID was “a key support for programs.”
“The infrastructure in Africa has been cut with the cuts at USAID,” he said. “It’s making it more difficult.”
The United States’ ability to respond to a real pandemic is “a mess” because of the cuts and the administration’s stance on mRNA vaccines, the technology behind COVID shots, Osterholm said. The White House last year canceled nearly $500 million in contracts for mRNA vaccine development despite a lack of evidence showing any health risks.
The rapid technology would enable faster worldwide vaccine production in the case of a pandemic compared with more traditional vaccine development, Osterholm said.
Some health leaders have also leveled criticism over the U.S. response to hantavirus. For example, the CDC on May 8 issued a health advisory about the cluster of hantavirus cases on the cruise ship in the Atlantic, but the alert came after some passengers had already arrived in the U.S. in late April on commercial flights.
And the agency’s first news conference on the outbreak aboard the MV Hondius took place May 9. The phone briefing with reporters came five days after the WHO had alerted the public about the situation.
“The first press conference was after this was international news,” said Wen, the former Baltimore health official.
The CDC has defended its response to hantavirus. It has required U.S. passengers of the cruise ship to remain in a quarantine facility and has assured the public that the overall health risk here at home is low.
“The country is prepared. The CDC is focused on it,” Mehmet Oz, a physician and head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told reporters at the White House on May 11.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
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