Hantavirus and COVID: Similar fears, major differences

Ajouté : 2026-05-12

[00:00:05]Welcome to the WL Daily Download. I'm Luis Fernandez. A cruise ship hit by a deadly haunt virus outbreak has sparked some fears and concerns just years after the height of the CO 19 pandemic. Three cruise ship passengers have died and six people with confirmed or suspected cases of haunt virus are being quarantined.

[00:00:25]That's according to the World Health Organization. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed one person from North Carolina was on board and evacuated with all remaining United States passengers to the University of Nebraska Medical C Center's National Quarantine Unit. So, what are the facts and what are the actual concerns about the HANA virus and its potential for something bigger? WL News reporter Shawn Gallagher spoke with Dr. David Wall, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina about what you need to know. Here's that conversation.

[00:01:01]>> When we're hearing about haunt virus, I think a lot of people hear just the word virus and immediately go back six years and think about, you know, co 19 and the pandemic that we went through. I mean, what what's the first thing you tell people about h virus in comparison to co? I think people are recognizing that we're living in a world where increasingly we are dealing with infectious disease threats. So this will not be the last one that we'll be talking about. There are lots of infections. There are infections in ourselves. There's infections in animals and they get transmitted all across the planet um on a regular basis. What we have here is a perfect storm of a virus that jumped from a mouse to some very adventurous um people who were traveling around um South America, got on a boat, and unfortunately the virus they caught from this mouse is able to be transmitted to other people. Um the good news is this is a pretty unusual event where all the dots lined up uh in a row to let this happen. uh that is not going to happen time and time and time again in the general population. So the good news is this is not COVID, this is not flu. It's a pretty unusual circumstance.

[00:02:16]Um basically related to being on a cruise ship with people who have a pretty nasty virus, >> right? Um I think in trying to compare it to COVID, uh you know, I guess if you could kind of help me understand these different uh you know, things that I think people would want to know the differences of. So when it comes to you know the main source uh what are the differences between what you remember from co 19 and what we're seeing with haunt virus?

[00:02:40]>> Well there's loads of different viruses and we know about a lot of viruses all of us. For instance HIV we've been dealing with a pandemic of HIV with millions of people infected over the last few decades. But we all know that you can't get HIV on an airplane by sitting next to somebody who has HIV. So that's a virus. But the rules of that virus are very different than the rules of COVID. Right? COVID, you could be sitting next to somebody and catch COVID from that person because it's spread through the air, right? Not intimate contact for instance. So there's a spectrum and ha is way in the middle of that spectrum, right? So it's not something that's as easy to catch, right, as flu or COVID, which travels in the air for a really far distance. uh it's something that probably you have to be much closer to that person touch their fluids or if they're coughing get droplets not little little airborne particles but droplets um and again this is a pretty unusual infection even in South America and we haven't seen big outbreaks of antivirus even in places where they have it all the time like in their animals so it just isn't a virus that spreads easily enough between people to cause an outbreak and certainly not a global outbreak like CO did which was a new virus that we had never seen before. Our bodies didn't know how to handle it and was super catchy.

[00:04:09]>> Yeah. And when you talk about the spread and how contagious it is. I mean from what I'm reading you know h virus predominantly it's spread through rodents deer mice. I mean, is that, you know, something that makes you feel a little bit more confident that this won't have, you know, wide as wide reaching an effect as COVID because it's not spread as easily personto person.

[00:04:31]>> It's not spread as easily person to person. So, that makes a huge difference. I agree with you completely.

[00:04:37]I I you know, I've heard others um say, public health officials that this is not easy to catch. I'm not so sure this is not easy to catch. If you're on a cruise ship with someone with hivirus that you know that that is not a good situation to be in. This is not something that um that I think is hard to catch. I think you can catch us pretty readily if you're in person in next to somebody with with the fact the good news for us is the chance that any one of us is going to be in close proximity to somebody who has antivirus is so so so low. Right? With COVID, you go to the supermarket and your chances of getting next to somebody who has CO 19 was pretty high. Get on a plane just because of the numbers, because of how catchy it is. So, if you were not on this cruise ship or aren't in close proximity to somebody who was on that cruise ship, you have nothing to worry about. Even people in Argentina where they do see this virus from time to time don't worry very much about it. So, yeah, I agree.

[00:05:39]We're talking about a completely different animal, no pun intended, um than something like CO 19. This is just not a virus with global pandemic potential. So, don't worry about it. Um but it does show us, and I think this is a really important point, infectious diseases are out there, right? There there are 13 centers across the country designated to take care of people with really bad infections. UNC is one of them. This is why we exist. This is why we have NIH funding research on emerging pathogens. This is why we want a strong CDC contingent that could respond to emerging pathogen threats. So, this really does punctuate, you know, or underline that we need to be able to be prepared because this will not be the last emerging pathogen or infectious disease threat that's going to going to be getting a lot of attention.

[00:06:33]And has UNCC been contacted by the CDC for the potential of getting a haunt victim or somebody who's a honto virus patient to you know handle them any anything like that.

[00:06:44]>> So the good news is is that we have centers across the country as I mentioned that are tasked with readying for this and helping train local hospitals and staff as well. So we've been coordinating over the last week very closely. We're all on the same page. We all work together. We all know that we might be called upon at any moment to respond to this or another threat that can emerge at any time. So yes, very close coordination, very close contact. This is why we exist. This is why we serve the public in North Carolina and the country because after Ebola, we realized we need some centers that know how to deal with really bad infections and how to treat those people effectively but safely. So yes, lots of coordination across these centers, including the one in Nebraska, which is part of that network.

[00:07:33]>> And um when we're you're talking about the the possibility of a pandemic from this, I totally understand that you know the the risk of that is not high at all.

[00:07:43]Um but is the concern so high about this because it can be so much more severe than CO 19 was?

[00:07:50]>> That's right. I think the things that capture capture people's attention are one this I mean you can't ignore that this is an incredible story of of being on a on a a ship 150 people on one ship this exotic ship that was going to go to Antarctica that picked up bird watchers from Holland from the Netherlands who got on the ship and you know he died and then the wife died soon there I mean it's a tragic dramatic story of this boat in the water with infected people I mean it's really horrible and this is a very severe disease with a high mortality rate for people who get sick.

[00:08:25]So you have all these elements together.

[00:08:26]So I understand why the story is so compelling. So yes, but the potential if you were going to design a virus to make it a pandemic potential pathogen, you would not design it like antivirus. This doesn't have the the characteristics you would need to really see this propel forward. You would design something very much like COVID 19, right? that that makes sense, you know, because it's something that can spread very readily, easily. Um, but the good news is CO 19 nowadays is no longer as deadly as it was. But antivirus just isn't that kind of potential. It's harder to catch. Um, it doesn't perpetuate like we talked about with COVID where one person gets and they give it to five other people and they give it to five other people and so on and so on. You could sell even from the 150 people on the boat. That didn't happen.

[00:09:17]And were you at all concerned when you heard that there were people who, you know, got off that ship and didn't go through the, you know, contact tracing and, you know, I think it's, you know, a couple dozen at least. I mean, is that something that would concern you?

[00:09:32]>> You know, personally, I feel that as an infectious disease specialist, my personal view is we should be really keeping track of these folks who are on that boat pretty carefully. Um, and so I agree. I think that we should be monitoring them very closely. Um, different countries are taking different approaches. Um, and they all can't be wrong or right. So, I think that, you know, there's there's certainly a righter way to do this. I'm all for monitoring them closely for symptoms. I think there's some testing that could be done to help us understand more about whether or not people were exposed or not. Um, yeah, we have great tools I think that we should apply. But, yeah, I I agree. I think that there um is an opportunity here to learn more also about this virus because we don't have as much information as we'd like about antivirus. So there's an opportunity even in studying people who have this and at the same time um attending to their health and public health. But yeah, I would I would keep a close eye on these folks.

[00:10:28]>> Yeah. And I guess what are you keeping your eye on when it comes to this? Like what what are you trying to pay attention to to see if this does escalate to being, you know, more concerning?

[00:10:38]>> I'm really concerned about the people who are on the boat. I on the ship. I I really do that. Um there could be a long incubation period, you know, as long as, you know, six weeks or so. Um so that means that after someone's exposed, it may be a couple of weeks before they show symptoms. So I want to make sure that we take care of those people, that if any new um symptomatic cases develop um over the next week or two, that we're there for them, right? that a we can take care of them, get them into treatment early, get them into supportive care early and b not have any further elongation of the chain of transmission. We don't want those people to infect other people. Those are the two main priorities. And so with a focused number of people, you know, a limited number of people, we can do that. Um, and I think that people, everyone, I think in the country would understand, you know, this balance between personal liberty and doing what makes sense for people's health and for everyone else's health. So, if we have to tell people you got to stay home, that's just the way it is because of this extraordinary circumstance. My personal view is that that balance is a no-brainer. Like, we you've got to be able to stay home and not put other people at risk. I think most reasonable people would understand that.

[00:11:52]>> Yeah. When you talk about the personal liberty side of things, I mean, um, do you see a world where people will be asked or, um, you know, required to mask up again because of the concern over how severe this can be?

[00:12:07]>> No, not for this virus. Another virus will come, believe me. You know, we're still keeping our eye on bird flu.

[00:12:13]Remember, it's not gone away. It's there. It's sort of a ticking time bomb.

[00:12:17]And I think once that that virus which is spread through the air very readily and can cause severe illness once that learns how to transmit from person to person. Right now it transmits from animals to animals and sometimes animals to people once it can figure out how to go person to person we're we're going to be in trouble. So we're keeping our eye very closely on that and really worried about that more than more than antivirus and then there'll be something else because I couldn't have predicted that antivirus would have been an issue you know two weeks ago you know or four or two months ago so who knows what the next thing is but that's why we have to be prepared that's why we need to invest in lots of sentinel research lots of surveillance um you know learning more about this and keeping people employed who know how to respond to this and have you know a deep bench of knowledge. You know, that's what we need to do. So, this is just a really good example of the world we live in and how infectious diseases come out of nowhere without warning and then make us concerned appropriately, you know, about is this going to be another CO 19?

[00:13:28]>> Yeah. um when it comes to protecting yourself, is there anything that you're recommending people do while honor is kind of top of mind or is it, you know, such a unique circumstance that people don't really need to think about a, you know, protection plan at this point?

[00:13:44]>> The people who really think about this more and thought about it more are people out west, right? Because we have hivirus here in the United States. It's a different version of the hivirus than they have down in South America. So, we don't see people-to-people transmission, but we do see animalto-people transmission. So, people out west, if you're going to be cleaning out something where there were mice or rodents, people generally know you should be wearing a mask and maybe gloves. And that's just like prudent behavior. Now, where we are, we don't have a problem with Hampton. So, that would not necessarily be what you would think about. But in places where it's endemic in the rodent population, there's just some practical matters that you can, you know, take into hand to protect yourself. And that's what we recommend. So again, if you're not handling, you know, rodent poop or rodent infested, you know, cabin or, you know, attic or something like that, you don't have to worry about it. If you weren't on the cruise ship or weren't are not in close proximity to someone on the cruise ship, you don't have anything to worry about. So again, this virus has been around for a long time. It's going to be around for a long time. We haven't heard about it in the news because it just doesn't happen that often.

[00:14:50]>> Yeah. Um and then probably my last question here which famous last words I'll always have another one after that but um what would you recommend to people who might be leerary about traveling right now that you know going to the airport they hear yes the humanto human you know transmission is extremely low but there are going to be people who hear that and think well maybe I'm the one you know I mean what what do you tell people who are traveling uh in the foreseeable future if they should do anything differently or any words to you know calm their worries Yeah. Well, it's not like there was um you know 5,000 people on a cruise ship and there are some cruise ships that are that big and that there was massive exposure and those people all dispersed to the ends of the earth and now it's anyone's guess where this virus is. That is exactly the opposite of what happened. Very few people got off the boat before it reached the Canary Islands. Those people we know where they are. Many of them are under close scrutiny. So this is not like this virus has been let loose on the world. It's very confined, very constrained. All of the Americans that were repatriated are under observation. So I would not I'm a worrier about lots of infectious diseases. I wear a mask on the plane, that kind of thing, and have for years.

[00:16:08]But I am not worried at all about getting havirus at all. Um, even people who go birding in South America should probably not be worried about it because it's still a really rare event even if you're exposed to the environment, let alone this. I would tell you if you're going on a cruise, cruises obviously carry some risk, some infectious diseases, neurovirus. Just this last week, we saw another ship really stricken with neurovirus. You want to make sure your shots are up. If ever you are a to become a believer in vaccines, it's before you get on a cruise. Make sure all your human shots are up tod date, right? Your flu shot, your COVID shot, your RSV, your pneumonia shot.

[00:16:49]These are really because in the confines of a cruise, all the bets are off, right? Something that's harder to catch is now much easier to catch. So don't get on a boat if you're sick because then you might be the person that then makes other people sick. So cruises take, you know, a little bit of special attention. That was WL News reporter Shawn Gallagher and UNCC professor of medicine David Wall. I'm Lewis Fernandez. Thanks for joining us and thanks for listening to the WL Daily Download and for making us part of your morning routine. Another great way to get WRL news in addition to our YouTube channel and this podcast is the morning briefing newsletter. It's a daily email of triangle news events and headlines to help you get ready for the day. Sign up at wl.com/newsletter.