Dr. Birx: Hantavirus cruise ship passengers should take PCR tests | NewsNation Prime

追加: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]We bring in former White House Corona Virus Response Coordinator, Dr. Deborah Burks. Dr. Burks, thank you so much for being here, helping us shine a light on what's going on and easing some concerns hopefully.

[00:00:11]>> Good to be with you, Alex.

[00:00:13]>> All right, so some fear that this haunt virus outbreak on this cruise ship could lead to another worldwide pandemic, if not properly contained, similar to what you dealt with extensively, the Corona virus pandemic. Do you believe the world is seeing the early stages of yet another pandemic?

[00:00:29]No, it's certainly not contagious like COVID. Um, and we have a lot of experience with the virus. So, we actually know how this virus works and how it infects people. I think one thing that we want to do, and we're not really talking about it, is decrease the anxiety of all the passengers on that ship. And the way to do it is to do a PCR test that tests whether you have any of that RNA from that virus in your bloodstream. that is much earlier than symptoms, much earlier than the classic immune responses that have been measured. So, we want to reassure those passengers and I think that's the quickest way to just ask them to get that blood test weekly through those 40 days and really decrease the anxiety that they have both the ones that are coming off the ship tomorrow and the ones that left a ship early that are distributed around the world.

[00:01:16]>> So, you say that h virus is pretty closely studied. We know more about it than we did at this time when it came to the corona virus pandemic. We do know haunt virus has several different strains different strains of this virus found in different parts of the world.

[00:01:29]So what do we know about it? Can you tell us how it's contracted and what symptoms a person with the virus might experience?

[00:01:36]>> Well, actually it's contracted very similar to other to all the respiratory viruses. the either from mice that have from their urine or their um feces that get into cabins and then when you sweep out the cabin it gets into the air or in the case of the haunted virus on the ship it got into the air with the close contacts and so people were exposed to the virus. I think we know a lot about aerosolized viruses now and how to protect against them. But again, there's no risk for an outbreak, a broad outbreak in the United States, but I think we do want to reassure the individuals who are on the boat that they they don't have any haunt virus in their blood because remember it's only treat it's only treatable by what we call the supportive care. So the earlier you're diagnosed the better. There is another strain that's primarily in Asia.

[00:02:27]um it's been in South Korea actually has a vaccine against their strain that VA that vaccine wouldn't protect against the North American South American strain but would protect against the Asian strains. And so it's another reason to actually be prepared and find out what South Korea is doing with their vaccination protocols.

[00:02:46]>> Yeah, it's interesting because this is ringing a bell to what we reported not all that long ago with Gene Hackman and his wife. if I'm not mistaken, this is the exact same virus that they uh died from. So, is that just a coincidence that we're just hearing more about this or is there any evidence to suggest that maybe this particular violent virus is proliferating across our our world, our country?

[00:03:11]>> Well, this is a very important concept you raised. So, there's a question about whether um warmer or colder changes in the weather are increasing the amount of mice that come inside to cabins and to households and you then you get exposed by cleaning that up. We've always had haunt virus in the United States. Not the same strain as Andes and the Andes virus that's in Chile and Argentina, but very similar, right?

[00:03:37]>> And so, we've always had the problem from mice. I think this is the first time beyond the reports from Argentina and Chile of really a humanto human outbreak and it does give us the chance to study whether there has been what you described molecular changes in the virus that makes it more contagious and and they'll be doing all of that. They're sequencing all of these strains and the world is really working together and that's the other important thing. the world has worked together both to protect those individuals on the ship and the communities as they disembark.

[00:04:07]And >> and doctor, you bring up the Andes virus. If I'm not mistaken, officials recently confirmed that that is the strain of the haunt virus that's spreading on this cruise ship. What more do we know about the Andes strain, how it might differ from the other strains?

[00:04:20]>> So the Andes strain is the only strain where we have mapped humanto human transmission. And I I caution people because when we say humanto human transmission, we're talking about people who develop symptoms, but because we're not testing populations with RNAs, we don't really know whether there are subclinical cases. So there could be more humanto human transmission than we actually see. It's never good to track viruses through symptoms. We should be tracking viruses through blood tests like PCR. We've learned that with COVID.

[00:04:52]extraordinarily helpful. Many universities were able to open and schools were able to open because they provided weekly testing and it really prevented spread. So, we know how to deal with these viruses. We just need to move into the 21st century and make testing more widely available to those who need it.

[00:05:10]>> Obviously, we're monitoring this situation on this particular cruise ship. We're also monitoring another situation on a completely different cruise ship, that one with the Noro virus. But I think that there's a lot of people that don't have any plans to take a cruise anytime soon, but they live in metropolitan cities like myself here in Chicago. Often deemed the rattiest city in America. I hate the dang things, but you know, it is what it is. Should we be worried when we see rodents and rats cross our paths? Are we needing to be taking more steps to protect ourselves?

[00:05:40]>> Okay, so rodents do carry a lot of disease, but where haunt virus is in the United States is in the four corners region. So Arizona, New Mexico in the four corner area.

[00:05:51]>> That makes sense for Gene Hackman outside of that area, right? So really you don't want rats around because they carry other diseases, but the only hot virus we have in the United States and we do have 30 to 40 cases per year. You don't usually hear about them. You wouldn't have heard about it with except that it was Gene Hackman's wife who came down with haunt virus. But we do have cases every year because it's endemic in the deer rat the deer mice population in the United States in that southwest area.

[00:06:19]>> Dr. I want to get your final take as we wrap up here on what the CDC guidance is. We heard Leando reporting it just moments ago saying that um they are either being advised to voluntarily quarantine in that space specifically designed for them in Nebraska or the CDC saying you can go home just promise to watch your health. That kind of scares me that we're just still relying on the honor system for people to not infect others. What are your thoughts on the way that we're handling this or is it just not risen to that level where more serious guidance needs to come down that the honor system is okay at a time like this?

[00:06:53]>> You know, I think if you offered every one of those individuals the ability to have a weekly PCR test for HANA virus, they could go home. I don't like to rely on symptoms only because we really between being PCR positive and symptoms that could take a week and we're really putting them at their personal risk for actually getting sicker. So I think if we offer them 21st century tests which we have available and we don't wait for symptoms. I think telling people that they don't have haunt virus in their body is very reassuring.

[00:07:26]>> All right let's quickly end with the other cruise ship that I just mentioned.

[00:07:29]115 people on board a Florida bound cruise ship uh potentially exposed to the norovirus. That's something that we most certainly know a lot more about.

[00:07:38]Can you explain how norovirus spreads to those hundreds of people? And then perhaps the greater question uh a lot of people thinking about going on their own cruise. My mom in fact is on a cruise right now in Italy. I'm concerned for her, but I'm believing and trusting you when you say that it's probably not going to be that big of a deal for her.

[00:07:55]But anyway, what do we know about the Nora virus? the cruise ship with more than 100 and just cruise ships in general moving forward.

[00:08:03]>> So, Nora virus is highly contagious. I had it myself a year ago and it is debilitating. I mean, for three days you are completely unbelievably ill with nausea, vomiting, you can get very dehydrated, you get diarrhea. I mean it it yes, you won't die from it, but you can get very sick. So, it's incredibly uncomfortable. It's spread on surfaces, very difficult to disinfect. It can live for a long time on surfaces and it's why cruise ship ships in general really have very good cleanliness protocols and food preparation protocols. Um, ensuring that the staff have very clean hands because that's often how it spreads. So, it's >> I think you know there are th millions of people on cruises every year, but you do hear about these situations, but you don't hear about the 95% of the time when nothing happens.

[00:08:57]>> Yes. And I'm hoping and praying that's exactly what happens with my mom in Italy. Nothing happens. Just a good time.

[00:09:03]>> I hope she has a great Mother's Day. I'm sure she's incredibly proud of you.

[00:09:06]>> She is. She is. And and I'm very thankful for her health and allowing her to go out here and have these uh these excursions with her best friends. Dr. Dr. Deborah Burks, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much for uh shining a light on this story for us.

[00:09:19]>> Great to be with you, Alex.

[00:09:21]>> Thank you for watching. Subscribe below and download our NewsNation app right now on your phone and you will get fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans.