AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing supports hantavirus response in Omaha

Published June 22, 2026
By Matthew Clouse
Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs

A medical professional from the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS) Omaha, in full personal protective equipment, mops the floor while another team member tends to a simulated patient at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, June 14, 2024. The C-STARS Omaha team mobilized within 48 hours to provide specialized biocontainment care and medical monitoring for passengers exposed to the rare Andes virus. C-STARS Omaha is a unique Air Force training site specializing in infectious disease preparedness and biocontainment, ensuring medical teams are ready to respond to high-consequence diseases worldwide. (Screengrab taken from U.S. Air Force video by Ryan Law)

OMAHA, Neb. — When a charter flight carrying Americans exposed to a rare and potentially deadly hantavirus landed in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 11, 2026, Air Force medical professionals from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing were already in place supporting the response.

Assigned to the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine’s Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills, or C-STARS Omaha, the team partnered with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Nebraska Medicine to care for and monitor passengers exposed to the Andes virus, a strain of hantavirus found in South America.

Seventeen U.S. citizens and one U.K. citizen who resides in the United States were aboard the MV Hondius, where a hantavirus outbreak occurred after the ship departed South America. After an initial evacuation to the Canary Islands, the passengers were repatriated to Omaha for monitoring and treatment at the National Quarantine Unit and Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

For Maj. Dan Cybulski, an infectious disease physician and course director for the Principles of Biocontainment Care course at C-STARS Omaha, the mission represented the purpose of the unit.

“This is what you train for,” Cybulski said. “In that first meeting, you're asking yourself, ‘How can I help?’”

Established in 2018 in response to lessons learned from the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, C-STARS Omaha is unique among Air Force medical training sites. While other C-STARS locations focus primarily on trauma and critical care, the Omaha team specializes in infectious disease preparedness and biocontainment.

“Through C-STARS Omaha, we make sure medical teams are ready to respond to high-consequence infectious diseases anywhere in the world, so they can protect the joint force whenever and wherever they’re needed,” said Col. Dale Harrell, commander of the 711th Human Performance Wing. “The Wing, which has six C-STARS training programs across the country, brings together integrated, human-centered solutions to help keep Airmen and Guardians healthy, protected and performing at their best across every part of the mission.”

The C-STARS Omaha unit includes infectious disease physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, public health technicians and critical care specialists embedded full time at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine. In addition to caring for patients in the hospital, they train alongside civilian experts as members of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and National Quarantine Unit.

Medical personnel at the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS) Omaha secure personal protective equipment before infectious control training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, June 14, 2024. The C-STARS Omaha team mobilized within 48 hours to provide specialized biocontainment care and medical monitoring for passengers exposed to the rare Andes virus. C-STARS Omaha is a unique Air Force training site specializing in infectious disease preparedness and biocontainment, ensuring medical teams are ready to respond to high-consequence diseases worldwide. (Screengrab taken from U.S. Air Force video by Ryan Law)

“Our partnership with the Air Force through the C-STARS Omaha program is incredibly valuable to our overall health security mission,” said Michael Wadman, MD, medical director of the National Quarantine Unit at UNMC. “When a high-consequence event like hantavirus response occurs, having military and civilian experts already operating as one cohesive, highly trained team allows us to seamlessly provide the safest, most effective care possible.”

This teamwork was put into action when the call came that the exposed passengers would be sent to Omaha.

“As soon as there was an official request to activate the quarantine unit, that’s when we got involved,” Cybulski said. “Within 48 hours of the aircraft landing, we were supporting planning, coordination and execution.”

C-STARS Omaha personnel coordinated transportation routes, staffing models, personal protective equipment requirements and medical countermeasures. Cybulski served as a physician aboard a shuttle transporting passengers from the aircraft to the quarantine facility, while Col. Elizabeth Schnaubelt, C-STARS Omaha director, led transportation planning efforts.

Today, team members continue to support 24-hour operations.

“You don’t really have shifts per se, it’s just all hands on deck,” Cybulski said.

Although no passengers have tested positive for the virus, the team has spent hours reviewing scientific literature and evaluating potential medical countermeasures.
“Once you hear about the pathogen, you go deep into the medical literature,” Cybulski said. “You’re reading constantly and becoming a sub-specialist.”

The Air Force’s partnership with UNMC provides a critical capability for the Department of the Air Force. Many high-consequence infectious diseases are rare in the United States but endemic in regions where servicemembers deploy.

“Servicemembers deploy across the world,” Cybulski said. “It is important to be able to diagnose, treat and prevent these diseases.”

That operational experience also shapes how C-STARS Omaha trains future medical teams.

C-STARS Omaha also shares its expertise through the Principles of Biocontainment Care course, a five-day program offered six times a year through USAFSAM. The course teaches military and civilian health care professionals how to safely evaluate and treat patients with highly infectious diseases through classroom instruction, skills stations and realistic simulations.

As Cybulski and the team continue monitoring patients in Omaha, their work alongside civilian experts demonstrates how C-STARS Omaha prepares Air Force medical professionals to respond to emerging biological threats worldwide.

“It’s fantastic being here,” he said. “There are not many places in the United States with this capability, and we are fortunate to learn from and train with the best.”

About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the Department of the Air Force’s primary scientific research and development center and one of six centers within Air Force Materiel Command. AFRL leads the discovery, development and delivery of technologies for air, space and the multidomain. With a workforce spanning seven mission areas at more than 40 locations worldwide, AFRL conducts research ranging from basic science to advanced technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.