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Recent reports surrounding the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius have renewed broader discussions about infectious disease preparedness, traveler safety, and how healthcare organizations respond to emerging public health concerns. While the overall risk to travelers remains low, events like these highlight the growing importance of structured infection prevention and outbreak preparedness across both travel and healthcare, particularly in medical travel where patients may be entering unfamiliar healthcare systems for planned treatment and specialized care.
This is particularly relevant in medical travel, where international patients are evaluating not only clinical expertise, but also how well healthcare organizations manage infection prevention, environmental safety, communication, and coordinated care throughout the patient journey. In response to this growing need, Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) recently introduced its Advanced Infection Prevention and Control (AIPC) Accreditation program, designed to help healthcare organizations strengthen outbreak preparedness, infection prevention systems, staff readiness, and patient confidence in cross-border care.
Heather Stoltzfus, Director of GHA’s Advanced Infection Prevention & Control (AIPC) Program, notes that since the COVID-19 pandemic, travelers, employers, insurers, and healthcare organizations have become far more aware of how infectious disease events can impact not only personal health, but also transportation, continuity of care, operational resilience, and confidence in healthcare providers. “Increasingly, preparedness is becoming a key component of patient trust,” she explains. “Organizations are now expected to demonstrate not only strong clinical capabilities, but also structured infection prevention systems, staff readiness, and the ability to respond consistently and effectively when emerging public health threats arise.”
To discuss the broader implications of infectious disease preparedness and travel safety, Medical Tourism Magazine spoke with Dr. Myles McClelland, Global Medical Director with Travel Guard, and Renée-Marie Stephano, JD, CEO of Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA).
Infectious disease preparedness has become a much larger conversation since COVID. Why is this issue especially important now for healthcare organizations and medical travel programs, particularly in light of recent events like the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius?
Stephano:
Recent events like the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius serve as important reminders that infectious disease risks continue to exist and that preparedness remains critically important across both travel and healthcare. While the overall risk to travelers remains low, these situations quickly influence public perception, traveler confidence, and how patients evaluate healthcare and travel-related organizations.
One of the biggest lessons learned globally after COVID is that infection prevention and outbreak preparedness can no longer be viewed as isolated clinical functions or reactive operational responses. Preparedness today directly impacts patient trust, organizational reputation, referral relationships, and business continuity.
This is especially important in medical travel because international patients are entering unfamiliar healthcare environments, often far from home and support systems. Patients, employers, facilitators, insurers, and government sponsors increasingly want reassurance that healthcare organizations are prepared to manage infectious disease risks systematically, not reactively.
That is one of the reasons GHA developed the Advanced Infection Prevention and Control (AIPC) Accreditation program. The program helps healthcare organizations strengthen and validate areas such as infection prevention systems, environmental safety, outbreak preparedness, staff training, surveillance processes, and operational readiness.
Increasingly, organizations recognize that preparedness itself has become part of the overall patient experience and part of how trust is built in international healthcare.
How do events like the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius reinforce the importance of infection prevention and preparedness?
Dr. McClelland:
While hantavirus itself remains rare, outbreaks like the recent MV Hondius event underscore the importance of maintaining vigilance and also highlight how rapidly infectious disease concerns can emerge in travel environments, reinforcing the ongoing importance of preparedness across both travel and healthcare sectors.
The overall risk to travelers remains low. Hantavirus is generally transmitted through rodent feces, urine, or saliva, typically in enclosed or dusty environments such as cabins, sheds, or poorly ventilated spaces. Human-to-human transmission is extremely uncommon.
However, events like this still influence how travelers think about safety, destinations, healthcare access, and preparedness. Since COVID, travelers have become much more aware of how quickly infectious disease concerns can affect transportation, healthcare access, and confidence in organizations.
For travelers concerned about hantavirus or other emerging infectious risks, what practical precautions should they consider?
Dr. McClelland:
The most important point is that, again, the risk of hantavirus remains low, and travelers should not panic. Practical precautions are generally sufficient: Travelers should avoid enclosed, dusty areas where rodent exposure may occur, particularly in endemic regions. More broadly, travelers should avoid traveling while ill, stay informed about public health guidance, and seek medical attention if they develop concerning symptoms after potential exposure.
For most people, these types of events should not disrupt travel plans, but they do reinforce the importance of awareness and preparedness.
Stephano:
From the healthcare organization perspective, these events also reinforce why structured infection prevention programs matter. Patients increasingly want confidence that healthcare providers, hotels, wellness facilities, and medical travel programs maintain clear hygiene practices, environmental safety protocols, and outbreak response capabilities.
Preparedness today is not simply a regulatory issue. It is increasingly tied to patient confidence and international reputation.
We often think about infectious disease risks in the context of leisure travel. Why is this conversation particularly relevant to medical travel?
Dr. McClelland:
People who are traveling internationally – for any reason – and also have a medical concern, face additional complexities, because they are entering an unfamiliar healthcare system that can be intimidating to navigate.
If something goes wrong, and a traveler needs emergency medical care, things can quickly become complicated, especially if the local population speaks a different language. Travel Guard has a robust medical team that can help their policy holders to find the best facility for their emergency needs, and communicate with primary care physicians back home to ensure the best possible care in this less-than-ideal scenario. Considering the quality of these providers’ infection prevention practices is certainly also a part of our calculus.
Increasingly, healthcare organizations serving international patients are investing in more structured infection prevention and outbreak preparedness programs that evaluate surveillance systems, staff training, environmental safety, and ongoing quality improvement.
Those types of frameworks help reassure patients that safety is a foundational part of the service offering.
What role does the Advanced Infection Prevention and Control (AIPC) Accreditation program play in helping organizations strengthen preparedness?
Stephano:
The AIPC Accreditation program was designed to help healthcare organizations strengthen infection prevention, operational resilience, and outbreak preparedness in a more structured and measurable way. Importantly, this is relevant not only for organizations involved in medical travel, but for any hospital, clinic, or healthcare provider seeking to enhance infection prevention and control practices and better prepare for emerging infectious disease risks such as hantavirus, COVID-19, or other public health threats.
The program evaluates key areas such as infection prevention policies, environmental safety, outbreak preparedness, staff education, surveillance systems, risk management, and continuous quality improvement. It also looks at how organizations operationalize these processes consistently across the patient journey and throughout the broader healthcare environment.
While the program was designed to support all healthcare organizations, it also includes optional standards specific to medical travel for organizations serving international patients. This becomes especially valuable as international patients, insurers, facilitators, and referral partners increasingly evaluate preparedness, safety, and organizational trust when selecting healthcare providers.
Preparedness today is no longer simply about compliance. It is becoming an important component of patient trust, organizational reputation, and long-term sustainability across healthcare as a whole
Looking ahead, do you believe infectious disease preparedness will continue influencing how travelers and healthcare organizations evaluate safety and trust?
Dr. McClelland:
Absolutely. Events like the recent hantavirus outbreak may remain isolated and low risk, but they continue reminding both travelers and healthcare organizations that preparedness matters.
Travelers today are far more aware of how infectious disease events can impact transportation, access to care, and healthcare confidence. That awareness increasingly influences how people evaluate destinations, healthcare providers, and medical travel programs.
Stephano:
Increasingly, patients, insurers, facilitators, employers, and government stakeholders are evaluating not only clinical expertise, but also whether healthcare organizations can demonstrate structured preparedness, environmental safety, infection prevention capability, and coordinated response systems.
In global healthcare and medical travel, preparedness is no longer simply an operational issue. It is increasingly becoming a trust issue. Organizations that demonstrate strong infection prevention practices, effective communication, and readiness to respond to emerging public health concerns will be better positioned to build patient confidence and strengthen long-term resilience in an increasingly interconnected healthcare environment.
Ultimately, events like the recent hantavirus outbreak remind us that preparedness is not just about responding to crises. It is about creating safer, more trusted healthcare systems before crises occur.
