Episode 242
Cruisin' with Hanta: A Viral Adventure You Didn't Sign Up For!
Hold onto your life jackets, folks! We’re diving into the wild world of the hantavirus outbreak—no, not Covid 2.0, so put down those panic-buying canned beans! Picture this: a cruise ship off Cape Verde has turned into a floating quarantine zone, and guests are getting a real-life lesson in international epidemiology—whether they signed up for it or not! With three sadly lost to the virus, and a whole bunch of people confined to their cabins, it’s like a sick episode of “The Love Boat” meets “Survivor.” We’re dishing out laughs over how the cruise company is trying to keep spirits high while folks are locked up tighter than a clam in a can. So, grab some snacks and settle in for some laughs as we unpack this crazy cruise caper!
Takeaways:
- So there's this cruise ship dealing with a hantavirus outbreak—yikes!
- Cruise company is like, "Atmosphere is good, just ignore the sick passengers!" 😂
- Bird watching near a landfill? Not quite the vacation brochure promised!
- WHO says human-to-human hantavirus spread is rare—like finding a unicorn! 🦄
- Passengers might be quarantined for up to eight weeks, talk about a long cruise!
- I never wanted to go on a cruise, and this just proves my point!
Transcript
It's Haystack.
Speaker A:And let's talk about a virus outbreak.
Speaker A:No, this is not going to be Covid 2.0.
Speaker A:I hope.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's a cruise ship right now dealing with something called the hantavirus outbreak.
Speaker A:Haunt of Hanta.
Speaker A:It's spelled H A N T. A virus.
Speaker A:Most of the stories say antivirus.
Speaker A:And I'm like, that's a computer thing.
Speaker A:But hanta.
Speaker A:Hantavirus, I guess.
Speaker A:Anyway, I want to be fair to the science.
Speaker A:This is a real thing.
Speaker A:Three people have died.
Speaker A:Several others have gotten sick.
Speaker A:The ship was also isolated off of the Cape Verde.
Speaker A:Verde.
Speaker A:Cape Verde, whatever.
Speaker A:It heads towards the Canary Islands with these passengers being confined to their cabins.
Speaker A:And officials are saying it says this Andes strain of the hantavirus, which is.
Speaker A:This is a virus that is normally spread with contact with infected rodent droppings.
Speaker A:Human to human spread is extremely rare.
Speaker A:And that's why the WHO has literally said, this is not the next Covid.
Speaker A:Which is exactly what you say right before everybody starts panic buying canned beans and toilet paper.
Speaker A:I mean, how.
Speaker A:How horrific has this specific vacation become?
Speaker A:Imagine booking this cruise, the brochure said, and this is real.
Speaker A:See Antarctica.
Speaker A:Well, I don't know if the brochure said this, but this is what the cruise was about.
Speaker A:See Antarctica.
Speaker A:Explore remote islands.
Speaker A:Bird watch in Argentina.
Speaker A:It did not say, participate in an international epidemiology conference against your will.
Speaker A:And apparently investigators are saying that a couple may have caught it while bird watching near a landfill in Argentina.
Speaker A:Though that couple is two of the three that have passed away.
Speaker A:But bird watching near a landfill, Wouldn't.
Speaker A:Wouldn't that be where you go to?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Raccoon watch and I.
Speaker A:And you gotta love cruise optimism.
Speaker A:Anytime there's anything going on with a cruise, the cruise company, even after multiple people have passed away.
Speaker A:Their update was the atmosphere on board is relatively good relative to what the Titanic.
Speaker A:Cruise ships always try to sound classy during disasters.
Speaker A:Guests are currently isolated in their cabins and they're locked up.
Speaker A:The WHO said the incubation period can be up to six weeks.
Speaker A:Six weeks.
Speaker A:And so that means passengers at this point may have to be quarantined.
Speaker A:Quarantined as long as eight weeks.
Speaker A:And the passengers are from all over Europe there.
Speaker A:There are Dutch, British, German, Swiss passengers.
Speaker A:This has become the Eurovision Song Contest of contact tracing.
Speaker A:I do feel bad for the health workers and the scientists dealing with this, though.
Speaker A:They've got to try to explain over and over.
Speaker A:Please stay calm.
Speaker A:Transmission is very, very rare.
Speaker A:But in the end, I gotta admit, this is.
Speaker A:This is one of the biggest reasons why I've never been excited at the thought of going on a cruise.
Speaker A:One minute you're taking selfies with penguins, and the next minute, the captain's announcement starts with attention.
Speaker A:Guess the World Health Organization has joined us on deck four.
Speaker A:Okay, maybe that was a little bit too much.
