Hantavirus: How Scary Is It??

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A weird virus has popped up on a cruise ship, and it’s making a bunch of us nervous. It’s a type of hantavirus called Andes virus, and scientists think that it’s infected almost a dozen people so far — three of them have died. And now people are getting off the boat, some of them going into government quarantine, but some of them traveling home. And people are like, wait … this all sounds VERY familiar … from the early days of Covid. So — how scary is this? Could this hantavirus be the next pandemic?? We talk to Prof. Michelle Harkins, Prof. Ann Sheehy and Dr. Neil Vora to find out. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsHantavirus In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Hantavirus shows up on a cruise ship (03:11) What happens if you get sick with hantavirus? (09:32) How does hantavirus spread? (14:05) How good is this hantavirus at spreading? (26:08) Is this hantavirus going to cause the next pandemic? This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, with help from Blythe Terrell, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys and Wendy Zukerman. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is the executive producer. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wylie, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. Special thanks to the other researchers we spoke to about this, including Prof. Glenn Marsh. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and this is Science Verses.
0:04.9	The show that pits facts against another friggin' pandemic?
0:15.6	Today on the show, Hunter Virus.
0:19.6	There's been a lot of reports of an outbreak of a weird virus on the MV
0:24.9	Hondias cruise ship. What began as a cruise of a lifetime has instead turned into a major
0:31.0	medical mystery and an international crisis. Three people have died amid an outbreak of
0:36.1	hanta virus on a cruise ship sailing the Atlantic.
0:39.3	The first cases seem to have started with a husband and wife that boarded after a bird-watching expedition.
0:45.3	The couple ended up dying along with one other passenger.
0:49.3	And over the next few weeks, more cases have started rolling out.
1:00.5	French National has tested positive for Hunter virus following her evacuation from the cruise liner M.V. Hondius. Now, her condition is said to be deteriorating.
1:05.7	18 American passengers from the Hanta virus affected cruise ship are now being monitored at two facilities in the United States.
1:12.6	One patient has tested positive and is now in a biocontainment unit in Omaha, Nebraska.
1:17.6	Global health officials warning there are now 11 total cases of the deadly Hanta virus,
1:22.6	adding that number could go up as the virus can incubate for 42 days.
1:28.3	And one thing that's really worrying here is just how deadly this virus is.
1:32.3	Something like 40% of people who get diagnosed with it will die.
1:37.3	And scarier still, according to news reports,
1:40.3	it feels like this hunter virus outbreak is weird because it's spreading from person to person.
1:48.2	Experts are confirming there have been cases of a rare strain on the ship that can be transmitted between humans.
1:56.1	Meanwhile, officials have been scrambling to track down some people who left the cruise ship before they
2:01.7	knew Hunter virus was on board. No surprises, the internet is freaking out.
	...

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