Dr. Céline Goundermedical correspondent, CBS News · physician, epidemiologist, medical journalist

What's the hantavirus risk to the public?

Name: What's the hantavirus risk to the public?
Uploaded: 2026-05-06T23:48:26+00:00
Duration: 1 min 7 s
Channel: Dr. Céline Gounder
Description: In a CBS News interview, medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder explains the public health implications of an Andes virus (a hantavirus) outbreak…

6 May 2026 · 1 min

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In a CBS News interview, medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder explains the public health implications of an Andes virus (a hantavirus) outbreak aboard a cruise ship carrying over 140 passengers, including 17 Americans. She clarifies that the virus differs from COVID-19, requiring close, prolonged contact for transmission—typically seen among spouses. The outbreak features a long incubation period and a presymptomatic infectious phase, complicating containment on a ship. Of the eight confirmed cases, three have died. Dr. Gounder notes that the risk of spreading the virus on commercial flights is very low, but severe cases need treatment in hospitals equipped with heart‑lung bypass machines. She warns that, similar to the 2014‑2015 Ebola response, some countries may refuse entry, meaning passengers could be required to remain quarantined on the vessel. The interview underscores the need for careful risk assessment, appropriate clinical resources, and possible shipboard quarantine to protect the wider public.

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We're back with more on that deadly strain of the hantavirus and first-ever outbreak aboard a cruise ship. More than 140 people on board with 3 deaths among 8 confirmed cases so far. What's the risk to the ship and the wider public? Earlier, I spoke with Dr. Céline Gounder, an infectious disease expert, CBS News medical correspondent, and KFF editor-at-large for public health. Dr. Gounder, thank you very much for being here. We're in a post-COVID world. People are scared. They hear about an outbreak and they're worried. I know you say this is not COVID. Explain to me why.
So this is not COVID. The Andes virus, which is a kind of hantavirus, requires close, prolonged contact between two people in order to have transmission. When we've seen this happen in the past, it's been in the context of spouses, that kind of close contact. What makes this really hard to contain is the fact that it's on a ship and the timeline. So you have this long incubation period. You also have a period of time when people can be infectious before they show symptoms.
So we got 140 people on this boat, 17 of them are Americans. How do you deal with that population safely?
Could they in theory come home safely? Yes. The risk of spreading this on a flight is very low. They would need to be near a hospital that has a heart-lung bypass machine because that's what you need when you get really sick with hantavirus. But it is, uh, something that we can anticipate that some countries won't want to accept them, right? Um, and this goes back to the Ebola days, 2014, 2015. So these passengers may well need to quarantine on the ship.
That out-of-office message just got a little longer. Dr. Gounder, thank you.