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Suspected Hantavirus Cases/People Being Monitored; How Hantavirus is Different from COVID-19; Hantavirus: What We Know. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired May 08, 2026 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The virus is you can go from seriously ill to critically ill very, very quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think some tests should have been required. Regulations should be updated regarding this. They deserve a better medical support from the ship in the first place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Everyone's worried because they have family at home. And the last thing you want is for the virus to spread further.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think most of the passengers are healthy. I'm just hoping them to give the necessary tests and return to your home safely.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: The latest on the Hantavirus, a Situation Room special report begins right now.

And right now, health officials around the world are racing to trace the passengers who have left that Hantavirus-hit ship. At least nine countries have confirmed cases, suspected cases or are tracking people tied to this cruise. And here in the U.S., five states are monitoring passengers who have returned home. The cruise ship is now heading to the Canary Islands and is set to arrive Sunday morning.

So, for the next 30 minutes, we're going to bring you the very latest on the efforts to contain the outbreak and answer your questions about the Hantavirus.

We have an all-star group of reporters covering this story across the globe, from London and Spain to Argentina and the U.S. Let's start with CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in London. Salma, this cruise ship is expected to dock on the Canary Islands this weekend. What exactly is going to happen? SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a really complicated and sensitive operation to get these passengers off the boat safely, of course, while also keeping them in isolation. It's something that the Spanish authorities have continued to address. There is even protest on the Canary Islands against the boat docking, so you can understand just how sensitive of an issue it is.

Now, Spanish authorities say they have an ironclad system in place. It's going to be a closed-circuit loop. There are medical facilities and medical personnel waiting to provide treatment to those who need it, waiting to provide any support that may be needed. They're going to have special entrances to enter those medical facilities that are specifically prepared for these passengers. They will all be seen, treated if they are needed to be treated.

[11:35:00]

And then the other element to this, the part two of this, if you will, is repatriating those citizens to their individual countries. You have more than 20 different countries among more than 140 people. So, Spanish authorities right now are speaking to each of these individual nations to figure out what their plans are for bringing their citizens home.

Let me give you the U.K. as an example, because they're monitoring several cases. They have three suspected cases right now that they're monitoring. One is in a hospital in Johannesburg. One is a hospital in the Netherlands. One is on an island, a remote island in the Atlantic. And then they're dealing with several other Britons who are on board that ship. They're speaking with Spanish authorities about providing specialist flights in order to evacuate them.

And then once they arrive here in the U.K., they're going to be asked to isolate for 45 days. But this is a mammoth operation and a very complex mission.

BROWN: It certainly is. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much. And let's go live now to CNN Pau Mosquera in Madrid. Pau, what are Spanish authorities saying about this Hantavirus outbreak ahead of the cruise ship docking?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, they have been trying over the last hours to reassure the local population that there is no risk of contagion or that at least it is very low. A message they have been also sharing with the regional authorities that they have opposed of the ship docking into the port of Granadilla, De Abona.

And actually, to demonstrate that everything is going to happen safely, they have finally defined the protocol on which they are going to transfer all the passengers from the boat to their respective countries. In the case of the 14 Spanish people that are on board of the cruise ship, they are going to be taken here to the Spanish capital and actually they are going to be moved to the hospital that you can see here behind me. This is a military hospital. And in the very last floor of the building, they have a high-level isolation unit that they are going to use in case that they detect any symptomatic case between these 14 people that are going to get here.

So, far, none of the passengers or crew members that are on board of the MV Hondius is symptomatic. All of them are asymptomatic. But the authorities have confirmed a few hours ago that there's the first suspected Hantavirus case in the country. It has been reported in Alicante in eastern Spain. It is a person that reportedly shown some symptoms that were consistent with Hantavirus. They have performed a PCR test and they are now waiting for results, Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Pau Mosquera, thank you so much. And let's head to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where CNN's Ivan Perez Sarmenti is standing by. Ivan, it's still not clear how this outbreak started, but the WHO is looking at whether the Dutch couple who died were infected while sightseeing in Argentina before that cruise. What more can you tell us about that?

IVAN PEREZ SARMENTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN Hi, Pamela. The Argentine Ministry of Health is currently reconstructing the route taken by the couple identified as the index case of this Hantavirus outbreak. Investigators are working to pinpoint the exact origin of the infection. Let's remember that the ship set sail from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, on April 1st. However, authorities have not yet confirmed that the contagion occurred within Argentina.

The virus has an incubation period of one to two weeks. The couple had recently travelled through other Latin American countries before arriving in the south. Since Hantavirus in Argentina typically develops in specific rural zones, the leading hypothesis is that the passengers may have contracted the virus elsewhere and the infection was only discovered once the ship was at sea.

Ushuaia has a population of about 80,000 and it's the capital of Tierra del Fuego province, an island at the southern tip of the continent separated from the mainland. According to authorities, there has never been a reported case of Hantavirus in the province. Because of this, the local residents we spoke with are highly surprised by the news.

In a small community like this, they say, word of such a case would have spread quickly. Most infections occur primarily through the inhalation of viral particles from the feces, urine and saliva or infected rodents. However, the World Health Organization confirmed that the variant infecting the cruise passenger corresponds to the antigen strain, the only known to be transmitted from person to person, which circulates here in Argentina and Chile.

And until now, the Ministry of Health reports 24 cases so far in 2026 and 101 during the latest epidemiological campaign, which runs from June to June a year. This figure is nearly double the 57 cases reported in the previous period.

BROWN: All right. Ivan Perez Sarmenti, thank you so much for that. So, just how dangerous is this Hantavirus outbreak and could it turn into another global pandemic? I know a lot of people have those questions. Dr. Gupta is here to answer your questions. Our special report continues up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

BROWN: And welcome back to our special report. As health authorities in several countries are rushing to contain the deadly Hantavirus outbreak, we're looking at the facts around the virus. The World Health Organization announced that five confirmed infections were identified among people connected to that now infamous cruise ship, the MV Hondias. The virus is typically associated with rodents but may have passed between humans. Those on board represent 23 nationalities, Including 17 Americans. And concerns have been growing about the spread of the virus and how to contain it.

So, let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta to weigh in and answer your questions. Hi, Sanjay, great to see you.

[11:45:00]

So, as you can imagine, a lot of people have questions and we want to start off with this question from Dallas Ashley in Orange Park, Florida. This question is, could this cause another shutdown similar to COVID?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the question, right, that a lot of people are asking. And I think I'll preface everything I'm saying to you today, Pamela, by saying, here's what we know as of this moment. And I think at this moment, the risk is low of that happening. Every major health organization around the world is saying that.

But let me give you a little bit of an explanation as to why they're saying that. They want to look at various factors to sort of determine how is this virus likely to behave. And one of the things that they look at right away is something known as the reproductive number. And that basically is saying, if somebody has the virus, what is the likelihood they are then going to transmit it to someone else?

So, it's just above one here. And to give some context, COVID was well above two, maybe even close to four in some of the studies. So, a lot lower chance of this actually spreading widely. The second thing I think is really important, and that is that people are generally sick when they transmit this, and they have a fever. There are people who probably should not be out and about. Whereas with COVID, as you may remember, people could spread that virus even before they got sick. So, you know, they may not have any idea they were carrying the virus, and they could spread it potentially. This does not behave that way.

And then the final point is that the, you know, with COVID, it was constantly mutating and changing all the time. We went back and looked at the genome data from 30 years ago, 1996, compared it to now, 2026, 30 years, and there has not been a significant amount of change in the virus overall. So, not a lot of mutations. Any of those things could change.

Again, Pamela, and I think it's worth saying that over and over again. But as things stand now, CDC, World Health Organization, major medical organizations saying the risk of this turning into a pandemic is very low.

BROWN: All right. Another viewer is asking, how long is the incubation period really? Is the Andes virus contagious during this incubation period, or does it only become contagious once symptoms begin? I know you sort of touched on that, but let's go a little bit deeper.

DR. GUPTA: Yes. So, incubation period, infectious period. These are two different things. So, what the incubation period means is someone has been exposed to the virus, how long before they get sick, if they do get sick. Many people may not get sick. Most people, if they're going to get sick, it's within the first couple of weeks.

But as you point out, there are some people who even as long as seven to eight weeks later did become sick with some of the symptoms you see there on the screen. Headache, fever, muscle ache, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing. Some of the symptoms can be sort of seem more like flu initially, but then they can sort of continue to grow. The infectious period, again, that is a very short window, according to many of the studies we looked at. Typically, it's when someone has a fever. That's when they're going to be the most infectious. And if you look at the data, that's about a day or two in terms of overall infectiousness. So, that is very different than the incubation period. And again, potentially good news in terms of this not becoming a pandemic.

BROWN: So, you had talked about mutations, right? And Winta from Arizona is asking, could the Hantavirus mutate and become more contagious? I think that's a concern people have, particularly after we saw COVID mutate so many times.

DR. GUPTA: Yes, I mean, this is a big question. And again, I'll say it again, with what we know right now, you know, that does not appear to be likely. Why? When we go look at the virus that was sort of sequenced back 30 years ago, and then compare it to 2018, and then again to 2026, the genome appears very stable.

Now, one thing we do know is that as the virus sort of spreads more and more among people, that does increase the likelihood of having new mutations. That's what we saw with COVID in that first year, 2020 in particular. You may remember how many different variants sort of emerged that was happening as the virus spread more and more. In the world, there's probably been a few thousand cases of Hantavirus, a few hundred where you've actually seen it spread from human to human. So, it's not common at all. And I think that's part of the reason the genome has been more stable as well.

BROWN: Very quickly, we hear from health officials that you can only get it with close contact with someone who has Hantavirus. What does that mean? I mean, is it from just sitting next to someone? Is it kissing someone, hugging them? I mean, how does it happen?

DR. GUPTA: Yes. So, let me tell you, this is very interesting. And I don't know if we have this other graphic because I was really looking at this last night. But you know, there are these ways of sort of studying how the virus behaves in the real world. And what they found at this one study was that a big outbreak that occurred in 2018, it was a man who was sick.

[11:50:00]

You can see him in the upper left corner there. He showed up at a party for 90 minutes. OK. Within that 90-minute period, he spread it to five people, as you see there. And then the people then spread it to other people. And ultimately, 11 people died and 34 were infected.

Again, a sick person showing up at a birthday party for 90 minutes in sort of close quarters. When you look specifically at how that room was sort of laid out, anywhere between one and four feet away, people were infected from that first patient. So, it is close quarters. But you know, again, it was a guy who was sick that showed up there. And I think there's a real message in there in that, you know, if you're sick, you obviously shouldn't go to parties where a lot of people are going to be clustering.

But the thing that I really took away from this, Pamela, was that 80 healthcare workers ultimately cared for those patients that I just showed you. And none of those healthcare workers got sick. So, I think that's an important point, maybe from basic masking and also the fact that there's a very narrow window when someone can actually spread the virus. I think those things sort of panned out and those healthcare workers are relatively protected.

BROWN: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

DR. GUPTA: Yes.

BROWN: Stay with us. Coming up, how easily does Hantavirus spread and is there a way to treat it? Dr. Gupta is answering more of your questions as our special report continues next.

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[11:55:00]

BROWN: And we are back with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to answer more of your questions about the Hantavirus. All right. So, Sanjay, Amelia from Woodbridge, Virginia is asking, what are all the signs and symptoms? What treatments are available for Hantavirus at the moment?

DR. GUPTA: Yes. So, let's put up some of these signs and symptoms and I'll tell you again, there is this incubation period between the time that someone's exposed to the virus to the time they might develop these symptoms. There may be a lot of people who never develop symptoms. We don't know. They don't show up, they don't get tested, they're not in a hospital. But headache, fever, muscle ache, back pain, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing.

It's been kind of interesting, Pamela, there seems to be two different patterns of illnesses depending where in the world you potentially contracted the virus. So, in South America, for example, it tends to be more kidney focused and what's known as a hemorrhagic fever, meaning a fever where you're not clotting your blood as well, so people might have bleeding. Whereas in the Americas, it more seems to affect the lungs. But, you know, that's changing in a global world where people move around. The strains that were typically relegated to one part of the world can now show up in other parts of the world.

As far as treatments, you know, there is no vaccine for this. There are treatments that are sort of focused on the symptoms that someone might have. So, if someone has significant lung symptoms, for example, helping support their breathing and sometimes even using something known as ECMO, which is basically a machine that allows the blood to be oxygenated outside the body.

One quick thing I'll just tell you, Pamela, a way to think about this, people get frightened, understandably, when they hear the mortality rates as high as 40 percent. But the thing you have to remember is that those are the people who show up, get tested and are already sick. There may be a lot of people who have this virus who never get sick enough to actually, even though they have the virus, are certainly not sick enough to get tested.

So, we don't know what the denominator is here overall in an outbreak like this. It's the same thing that we saw with COVID in the past as well. We may get more data on that, but that's why that's something that they're trying to sort of pin down at this time.

BROWN: All right. So, Jasmine in Salt Lake City, Utah, is asking how many official cases have come into the United States?

DR. GUPTA: Well, technically, there's no official cases. I mean, there's been no confirmed cases that have come into the United States. We know that there are 17 Americans on the boat and they have brought people back, but they are not -- they have not tested positive for this. So, I believe it's seven Americans in five states. And then there'll be more people who ultimately come back to the United States. And I think we're going to hear more in terms of what they are -- what they're going to do specifically in terms of quarantine and isolation. And obviously here, if any of them test positive in the future.

BROWN: And we know this ship is supposed to dock in the Canary Islands. Is it safe for the passengers to get off and be repatriated to their home country?

DR. GUPTA: They're going to have to come up with strategies to do this in a way put other people at risk, again, because of this long incubation period. We do know, again the infectious period. The time period where someone can actually transmit this virus to somebody else is pretty narrow. So, obviously if someone is sick, they shouldn't be around other people.

But I think I've been hearing about all sorts of strategies they may take with a special plane to bring people back to the United States in a way where they can be isolated and not put others at risk.

BROWN: So, Sanjay, in a nutshell, bottom line this for us. DR. GUPTA: This is something we're keeping a close eye on, Pamela. You know, look, I've been covering outbreaks and pandemics, you know, for 25 years. In the early days, you know, we're getting you know, information that I think is important information, and when we put that altogether the risk seems low for anybody who is not on that ship.

But I think, you know, if somebody else tests positive who wasn't on the ship, that would be an important data point. If we're seeing more human-to-human transmission, that would obviously be important data point. But today, Friday I don't think people should be that worried.

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