Should we be worried about the Hantavirus outbreak? | Inside Story

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:01]The World Health Organization says public risks from the Her virus are low.

[00:00:06]Arrangements are being made to repatriate passengers from a cruise ship after three people who've been on board died. How's the experience from the COVID 19 pandemic being used? This is Inside Story.

[00:00:36]Hello again. I'm James Bays. A virus that few had heard of beyond specialist medical circles until recently is now making global headlines. Scientists say the risk from Her virus are low, but our recent experience with the coid9 pandemic means that public concern is high. The World Health Organization was alerted a week ago to a cluster of infections on a cruise ship which left from Argentina last month. Three passengers have since died with others being treated in hospital. Those remaining on the ship are headed to the Spanish island of Tenneref off the west coast of Africa where they'll be screened. The World Health Organization is stressing the risk to the wider public is low. But the level of precaution shows just how seriously this outbreak is being viewed. So what is this virus? What are the broader risks and what action is being taken? We'll find out when we talk to our guests in just a moment. But first, this report from Amabang.

[00:01:32]>> A luxury voyage turns into a global health concern. The cruise ship, the MV on has been linked to an outbreak of the Her virus. A Dutch couple and a German woman who were passengers have died.

[00:01:45]Several more cases are confirmed. But the World Health Organization says this isn't like the CO 19 pandemic. I need to stress again and again even those who have been sharing cabins uh don't seem to be both infected in some cases. So the risk remains absolutely low. This is a dangerous virus but only to the person who is really infected uh and it's the risk to the general population remains absolutely low.

[00:02:13]>> Let's go. Health officials are racing to trace dozens of people who disembarked the ship before the virus was detected and anyone who's come into close contact with them since. This is the route the ship took. It set sail on April 1st from Usuaya on the southern tip of Argentina with 114 guests and 61 crew members. It stopped 2 weeks later in Tristan Duna in the South Atlantic where the cruise company says one crew member disembarked. A week later there was a 3-day stop in St. Helena where 32 people got off. The vessel was close to Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa when tests confirmed the outbreak on May 2nd after one of the passengers died on the ship. An announcement by the captain of the first death on April 11th has raised questions about the company's response.

[00:03:00]>> I'm told by the doctor we're not infectious, >> so the ship is safe when it comes to deaths. The company says that at the time of the captain's statement, the cause of death was unknown and there was no evidence of a virus. The WHO says it's identified the Andes strain of the Hanta virus, the only type that in rare cases can be transmitted between humans.

[00:03:23]Infection is often caused through contact with rodents or their droppings.

[00:03:27]The fatality rate is thought to be as high as 50% which is why it's dangerous.

[00:03:33]Patients are in hospital in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. And health officials suspect a case in Spain and the island of Tristan Dakuna. The remaining 147 passengers and crew from 24 countries are now heading for medical screening in the Spanish island of Tenneref. The company says no one on board is showing any symptoms, but the incubation period of the virus is several weeks, so they'll continue to be monitored.

[00:03:58]Amabeng Alazer for Inside Story.

[00:04:03]Earlier I spoke to TK Yasharovich, a spokesperson at the World Health Organization in Geneva. I began by asking him, bearing in mind the CO9 pandemic, how serious is this situation now?

[00:04:16]>> Well, the this incident, this event, we take it very seriously. But again, uh our assessment is that uh the risk for general population is low. H virus uh is being transmitted normally to people through contact with rodents uh with droppings of rodents in some cases and we believe in this case there there was a humanto human transmission but this humanto human transmission requires prolonged close uh contact. So we need to put in place all public health measures to make sure that those who need medical care are taken care of but also that we follow up those who have been identified as contacts make sure that uh uh uh uh we know their medical status and in case they develop a disease they also taken uh care of but again uh uh we think that the risk for the general population is low. So you seem pretty clear this is not going to be an event like COVID 19. But has this all stress tested the global system?

[00:05:19]Have we learned the right lessons? And have you found any gaps?

[00:05:23]>> Well, this is a perfect example. Why do we need international cooperation? We have many countries involved in this uh public health event starting with Argentina to to Cabo to countries from where these passengers are. Some had disembarked went to South Africa. There was a case in Switzerland. So we just realized that in case of a public health event like this one, we need international cooperation not only between countries, we need to operate also with air companies, with ship operators and there has to be a system to work together. Let me just give you the example of a of of a Swiss man who tested positive. uh he uh disembarked but then he was contacted uh and uh and he was told that there was an outbreak on the ship and if he get some symptoms to report to health authorities. This is what he has done in Zurich and that's how we got to know about him and this is why we need this mechanism of uh epidemiological investigation of putting in place public health measures and having this cooperation at the national level so we can respond as efficiently as possible to any public health threat.

[00:06:34]One thing that perhaps is similar to COVID is not the medical part. Again, we have scaremongering, misinformation, the anti-science. Does that worry you?

[00:06:46]>> Well, we have learned uh uh uh during COVID that misinformation is a grave obstacle to uh uh to to to to real public health action. Uh I I hope we all uh got that from from COVID and we hope that uh all partners involved in informing public from national health authorities uh through uh uh through NOS's international organizations we will do our best to provide and to educate uh public uh unfortunately we know uh that that misinformation uh is is something that we will have to deal with. But again, our role is to provide the best possible advice based on the latest scientific knowledge to first of all ministries of health and then we hope that ministries of health will find the best possible way to communicate this uh to their uh and national uh national audience.

[00:07:42]Well, let's discuss all of this further with our panel of guests, panel of experts who can explain to us how serious this all is. In Marrakesh, Mukesh Capila, professor emeritus of global health and humanitarian affairs at the University of Manchester. In fage in France, Dr. Margaret Harris, lecturer at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and former chief spokeswoman for the WHO. and in Guilford in the UK, Nicholas Locker, professor of biology at the Perbrite Institute. Thank you all three for joining us. Nicholas, let me start with you. You heard the WHO spokesperson there. Not like CO, not all that serious. And I see that on their emergency level. They have it as low for the general public. No travel or trade restrictions advised. the CDC, which is the US Center for Disease Control, level three, the lowest emergency activation level. Have they got it right?

[00:08:39]Yes. So, I think they got it pretty right. So, since the record began for, you know, this familiar viruses, there have been less than 1,000 cases of antivirus infection. So, it's a very very rare event. The other really key point uh is that the virus is really poorly transmitted between human um that are you know in contact and it's really rare events of a human being in contact with rodents or rodents droppings urine that can trigger infection. So I think they got it right indeed.

[00:09:15]>> Makesh then do you have any fears? Let's be be let's look at the worst case scenario. any fears of another pandemic coming from this?

[00:09:26]>> No, I think this is as far away from COVID as you can think of. Uh it's also it's a it's a well-known virus. It's not like the corona virus that was a a new thing and uh the uh it was rapidly diagnosed.

[00:09:45]there are lab tests available and information was shared very quickly amongst the countries and and institutions concerned. So and who has been outstanding in terms of getting information out far quicker than it did in the case of of COVID because we didn't know much about CO when it first started. So I can't think of this being anything like COVID at all as has already been said.

[00:10:09]>> Well, you say it's a well-known virus.

[00:10:11]I'll be honest, Margaret, I had not heard of Hunter virus until last year, February last year, uh, when we had the tragic death of the Hollywood actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, and she died of Havirus. Just explain to us in layman's terms, what is Hivirus and how do you catch it?

[00:10:37]Well, you're right not to know very much about it. And indeed, that was a tragic case where um Gene Hackman's wife contracted this on their farm. And that's what we have seen over over the years that a person in contact with rat droppings often because they're maybe sweeping up uh the rat droppings have formed dust cuz it's very dry. They're sweeping up and it's then reached their nose and mouth. Um and where that happens which is a rare occurrence they can get very very sick and if you do get enough virus from this source uh you have got quite a chance of getting a severe illness. There are more than 30 species and they're different. Some are in uh Europe, some are in Asia and some are in the Americas and they are all actually different. The only one we've seen that's managed to pass from person to person is the Andy strain. And this is the one that's been identified on this ship. It caused quite a cluster back in 2019 where a farm worker went to a festival and 11 of those people died.

[00:11:48]So, it is something that we've had that I should say we I'm no longer working for the World Health Organization, but it's been on the watch list. Um it's been on the global health watch list.

[00:11:58]Not so much because it's it's not seen as something likely to spark a pandemic, but it's something that causes severe human illness if it does get into the human population. So, it's it has long been on the watch list, particularly in the in the Americas.

[00:12:14]>> So, Nicholas, um let's turn to the ship um the MV Hondius um which started its journey back on the 1st of April in Argentina. Do we know how the Hunter virus got on the ship? I believe uh the investigations center around a Dutch couple.

[00:12:35]>> Yeah. So, you know, it's it's very difficult to uh to have a definite answer to that question, but there are couple of hypothesis, right? So, as as we mentioned already a couple of time, the virus is transmitted by rodents um to humans. So, one possibility is that, you know, passengers actually got into um close contact with rodents or their droppings while in South America where the virus is potentially present and they boarded the ship with potentially no symptoms but started to develop symptoms as the crews started. The other eventuality is that some rodents uh were actually on board the ship. Uh and that again through contact with the rodents themselves or uh droppings, urine or saliva the this this couple originally got infected or perhaps even a combination of both.

[00:13:40]>> Makesh um so the journey started on the 1st of April. By the 6th of April, the Dutch man, we mentioned the Dutch couple, the Dutch man, 70 years old, developed a fever, headache, and then on the 11th of April, he died. The captain then informs the other passengers, "It's my sad duty to inform you that one of our passengers passed away last night.

[00:14:02]Tragic as it seems, it was due to natural causes, we believe." And yet then 20 days before they actually informed the WHO that they had hivirus.

[00:14:14]Does that 20 days almost 3 weeks does that part of the story concern you?

[00:14:22]>> Well the hunter virus has a long incubation period. It can be 6 weeks or even 8 weeks sometimes. What that means is that uh the captain obviously was speaking when he was speaking with the knowledge that he had at that moment in time advised by the medical doctor of the ship. But clearly events evolved as the virus's incubation period was longer and uh the outbreak uh and the nature of the outbreak became clearer as the days passed. Unfortunately, it is a concern when organisms have very long incubation periods as this appears to be the case here. And that's why I think it one has to be extremely uh cautious uh in pronouncements on anything until we know what more is going on and also the importance of early assessments and careful tracking when something unusual happens whether on land or or sea. So what happened uh uh the trail is interesting but uh quite honestly I don't think anyone could have done anything different. It just took time for the experience to to unfold and the number of cases to then raise alarms first on the ship then in terms of the clinicians who are looking after patients who were evacuated and then of course we know where we are. Margaret, this particular ship uh run by a company called Oceanwide Expeditions is not your typ typical cruise ship as I understand it. They describe it as an expedition ship often with scientific wildlife or geopolitics lecturers on board. And I'm told uh the experience of previous passengers is they have very si strict safety protocols because of places they visit mainly for biodiversity reasons.

[00:16:07]Previous passengers have recalled sniffer dogs and having to wear sanitized boots. If it can happen on a ship like that, do you have concerns in general about going on cruises? I mean, are they incubators for disease? Would you go on a a cruise holiday?

[00:16:27]Well, I'm a bit sort of I don't like crowds, so I'm not a good person to ask.

[00:16:33]But I I think certainly cruisers know that there is a risk of infectious um uh diseases. They they often get noroirus and other um gastroenterteritis viruses that can pass very rapidly through the the group. So they they're actually um more likely to be more alert to the risks of transmission because they know they're in a closed environment. And I'd like to say about this group also all the people have shown such a level of responsibility and a very um reasonable and good reaction particularly you know the the passengers who developed symptoms and then identified themselves and ensured they got to care very quickly. I am super impressed in in many ways as I said that this the risk to the general public is low here but if we had something more dangerous to the general public it couldn't happen in a better group of people because they are really you know my impression is they are super responsible people >> Nicholas nevertheless despite what Margaret said this ship has left a trail of global cases because people disembarked from the ship do you think the bull was dropped at any point?

[00:17:56]>> I don't think so because it's um we we mentioned the long incubation period um of the virus, you know, the time it takes for the symptoms uh to develop. So I think the the crew uh and the company actually reacted in a pretty reasonable manner. I think we have all the tools to actually track uh passengers.

[00:18:19]um there is enough awareness now uh of the symptoms and so I you know I don't think we have left um you know this cruise ship passenger let's say abandoned uh at the moment in terms of how the situation was managed. Um yes it is you know stressful for for the people that are still uh on the ship and you know wondering for example whether they are infected or not. But you know processes are in place to actually test everybody on the ship before they will be allowed uh to disembark and there is close monitoring from the health authorities in the different countries where the ship has stopped. So I think here we see a really good global collaboration and coordination and I'm quite optimistic about the whole situation.

[00:19:14]Mukesh as we've said uh this is not co but they are zunotic diseases so a disease that jumps from animals to humans. Um given that we're 5 years nearly 6 years on from COVID 19 this was a test of the global system. Would you say the system passed the test?

[00:19:36]I think uh and I'm a very critical person and I've been searching for critical things to say but I have to say that actually everyone in this particular case whether it's the countries concerned like Argentina that has actually left the world health organization or the world organization itself which was a little bit not so sure-footed in the case of COVID or whether it is a sharing of information between three continents as it as it turns out is been uh remarkably exemplary and we we are at a time of uh you know multilateral fractures and a lot of geopolitics that is going on not least in international health not least in relation to the World Health Organization but in this particular place regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum everybody did their part as best as they could and by the way if I can get back to your previous question thank goodness this is a slowm moving uh crew cruise ship.

[00:20:35]Imagine if for example 134 people were sitting in a big plane out of Argentina flying to all the corners of the world very fast uh and then disappearing into into the world. So I think back to the cruise ship thing if I can also come back to that. It is to say that the only difference between a cruise ship and a prison is that a is a is a cruise ship floats on the sea and I for one am looking forward to whenever I can ever have the opportunity to be able to afford a cruise somewhere in the world.

[00:21:04]>> Margaret um the ordeal for the US citizens is not over because my understanding is the US government want to send them to a bio containment um center in Omaha. Do you think that is the right response? They're going to send them where in the past they've sent patients with Ebola.

[00:21:23]>> Goodness. Uh yes, certainly the people who experienced that during Ebola did not enjoy it. And this will be a long period of confinement if that's the decision that's being taken by the US authorities. Uh my biggest concern about something like that is it may be seen by others as a severe punishment. And if the consequences of identifying yourself as somebody who may be um uh to potentially be exposed, if the consequences are so severe, people may not be willing to um identify themselves. Now, I think in this case, we do know of I think we've we've we've managed to trace or we're in the process of tracing nearly everybody who has been exposed. But when you make decisions about how you manage um the people and uh the containment of a potential outbreak, you do have to think about whether it's going to be acceptable to populations because if it's not acceptable to populations, it goes underground. We saw that with Ebola in the large West African outbreak uh where the consequences of identifying cases of Ebola was something that was entirely unacceptable to the population. So you really have to think hard about how you manage it to ensure that you don't spread the virus but also ensure that people are going to be willing to comply with what you ask them to do.

[00:22:51]>> Nicholas, all three of you have made it clear that you think the system has worked but the system relies on international cooperation. Two of the countries involved, the US and Argentina have pulled out or are pulling out of the the World Health Organization. Does that worry you going forward?

[00:23:12]>> I think it would uh you know any country putting out of uh the WH is a concern. I think for the management of large or indeed small outbreaks, we need collaboration. We need sharing of resources of uh screening uh data you know of um virus isolates so that we can trace uh outbreaks so that we can identify patients. So yes, this is worrying >> mukesh. I mean it's all about medical but it's also about more than medical when you deal with global health and again we've had the problem of misinformation.

[00:23:54]um particularly uh about Madna that medical company that has been involved in research on a vaccine linked to Hanta virus with the Korea University but actually it's not even targeting this Andes strain yet prominent people notably the former US Congresswoman Marjgerie Taylor Green has claimed that Madna is manufacturing a boweapon. How worried are you about the spread not of of of a virus or disease but the spread of information?

[00:24:28]>> Well, actually that's the real deadly virus, the virus of misinformation and disinformation as particularly in this in this case. In fact, I randomly went on Facebook and I was just appalled to see the sort of rubbish that is being propagated there on Facebook. Now I think uh I do not think that there is a virus against that and therefore it is an ongoing effort from all concerned and uh especially social media companies but also governments and institutions to make sure that accurate information gets out. Uh I mean we're conscious, thank goodness for uh information based humanity expressed by by the Spanish government in allowing this ship to actually come to the Canaries and from there for the people to be screened and taken to their homes for whatever other measures are needed. And that I thought was a example of leadership against the disinformation that is in equal measure. the real pandemic around the world. However, having said that, the answer to this is clearly to get information out, to get the science out, to educate people and for the policy makers to show leadership as the Spanish have done, as for example, who has Dr. Tedros has done to try and uh uh and get into the heads and heads of people.

[00:25:58]No shortcuts there. It's something that has to be done every day. And every time something like this happens, we have to just uh carry on repeating the same old lessons.

[00:26:08]>> Let me ask you briefly, Margaret, to to add to that because this used to be your job at the WH getting accurate, factual, scientific information out. How much of a challenge is it in today's world?

[00:26:23]It gets to be a bigger challenge every day and it's actually still my job and I appreciate this program because you're making an effort to get the right information out right now. Uh it's something you have to continue to do and it's getting harder and harder because there's been such a loss of trust.

[00:26:41]There's a great loss of trust in authorities, the conflicts. I don't want to get into all the other things going on in the world, but the level of conflict, confusion, distress, distrust means that people just don't know who they can trust these days. But the critical thing is just as uh was just said is getting out the the information we have as quickly as possible.

[00:27:04]Acknowledging we don't know everything but acknowledging also making every effort to find out what needs to be done and letting people know as quickly as possible what that is.

[00:27:17]>> Dr. Margaret Harris, Dr. Mukesh Capila and Professor Nicholas Locker, thank you for joining us for the very latest on this story. Stay tuned to Alazer. And if you want to go a little deeper, you can get more information, context, and analysis on our website alazer.com. Let us know what you think. Go to our Facebook page. That's facebook.com/ AJ inside or on X. There you'll find us by looking for AJ inside. For now, that's it from me, James B, and the team here.

[00:27:44]But Al Jazer's coverage continues around the clock. Stay tuned for the latest in just a moment.