The real reason hantavirus is scary is not what you think

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]So we are at risk of a new pandemic, but not from hunter virus. The kinds of pathogens that are most worrisome are those that are cryptic and that spread without anyone really noticing. It's like an a fire in the attic. You know, it's smoldering away and by the time you notice it, it's like way too late. The hunter virus outbreak happened in the best possible place for something like that. It's on a a ship at sea. It's literally already in quarantine. The problem is we don't respond to these diseases based on their actual risk, but based on our skewed perception of risk.

[00:00:39]And a great example of that is malaria.

[00:00:41]Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. But in places where there's the most malaria, people consider it a normal problem of life.

[00:00:49]And so they're much less likely to take preventive actions or even to seek treatment. This is the same reason why people fear flying more than driving.

[00:00:58]Even though driving is way more dangerous for us, it's why there's such a huge freakout over Ebola in America a few years ago. Even though the risk of transmission in the United States was super low, there was even a name for that. It was called Ebola. So, the panic over hunt is scary because it just showed how skewed our perceptions of risk are. And our perceptions of risk are what changes our behaviors and that's what protects us from pandemic-causing pathogens.

[00:01:24]>> For more on science, politics, and humanity's place in the world, follow me here or on crosspollinations on Substack.