Hantavirus: how scared should we be?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 747 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Three people have died after a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, which provoked global concern and revived memories of COVID-19. Experts stress it is not the same virus, but after the pandemic, trust is fragile. What does this cruise ship outbreak reveal?
In this episode:
- Dylan Scott (@dylanlscott), Senior Correspondent for Vox
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Noor Wazwaz and Sarí el-Khalili with Chloe K. Li, Catherine Nouhan, Tuleen Barakat and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
Connect with us:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, why a cruise ship virus outbreak has the world on edge again. |
| 0:16.0 | Hanta virus is part of a family of respiratory viruses that are spread mostly by rodents. |
| 0:23.7 | The outbreak on the cruise ship has been linked to the rare Andes strain of the virus. |
| 0:29.7 | Health officials say this isn't another pandemic, but after COVID, can people still trust that reassurance? |
| 0:40.3 | I'm Kevin Horton, and this is the take. Before we continue with today's show, remember to leave us a comment, telling us what you think about this episode. |
| 0:53.3 | What do you think about this hantavirus? Are you worried? Do you think that it could be spreading? Do you think |
| 0:57.8 | health officials are actually doing their job? And remember, if you're on your favorite podcast app, |
| 1:02.7 | leave us a review telling us where you're listening from. And a five-star rating doesn't hurt either. |
| 1:07.5 | It does help the show. |
| 1:11.2 | My name is Dylan Scott. I am a senior correspondent covering health at Vox.com, and I am based |
| 1:17.4 | out of Cleveland, Ohio. |
| 1:19.7 | Dylan, welcome to the take. I was thinking, before we get into the science, maybe we can start |
| 1:24.7 | with the vibes surrounding this story. Because for a lot of people hearing words like virus and quarantine and cruise ship, |
| 1:32.7 | it immediately brings it back to the early days of COVID. |
| 1:35.3 | And I know you've described this outbreak almost as a test, |
| 1:39.3 | not just of public health systems, but of the public psychology after the trauma of COVID. |
| 1:45.1 | So if this was a test, how did we do? |
| 1:49.0 | I'd say, I mean, I'd say the grade is incomplete at this point. |
| 1:53.2 | Well, you know, the next couple weeks are going to be telling. |
| 1:56.1 | It's like this whole situation was perfectly designed to poke at the wounds of the pandemic. |
| 2:01.0 | You've got people on a cruise ship. You've got this respiratory illness, you've just got all |
... |
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