Michael Baker: Otago University epidemiologist on whether the hantavirus outbreak could become a global pandemic

There's confidence from some that the hantavirus outbreak won't turn into another worldwide pandemic.

Passengers are being evacuated and returning to home countries, including one New Zealander.

Authorities say one of five French passengers developed symptoms flying to Paris, and will isolate until further notice. 

Otago University epidemiologist, Michael Baker, says person to person transmission is very unusual for this virus.

"And when they're investigated, these are often people who are living in the same house or the same bedroom or are spending a lot of time together - it's not from casual contact." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather Duplessy l Key, we passenger on board the Hunter
of Virus Hit cruise ship will be taken to Australia
to quarantine with the Australian passengers. Three people already have died.
There were several infections. Michael Baker is an Otago University epidemiologist.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
High Michael O cure Heather, Now, is this person going
to have.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
To quarantine over there for the full period that they
are at risk, which is like eight or nine weeks?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
It won't be quite that long, but yes, this virus
has a very long incubation period. It's routinely or the
median is about three weeks, but it can be up
to six or eight weeks. Most of the people now
who are on the ship will probably last have been
exposed to really active infections maybe a week or two ago,

(00:48):
so that we'll reduce the quarantine or the year the
quarantine period they need.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay, so you can take a bit more risk on board.
I suppose if this person does actually develop the sickness,
what is the risk of somebody else catching it? Like
is it via the air or how do they get it?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, it's generally very close prolonged contact it's not as
infectious as something like the virus that causes COVID nineteen
or influenza. The Hunter viruses in general don't transmit between people.
There are more than twenty species of them. This Andy's virus,

(01:28):
which is one of them, is unusual and having caused
some previous outbreaks of person to person transmission. But it's
very unusual, and when they're investigated, these are often people
who are living in the same house or the same bedroom,
or spending a lot of time together. It's not from
casual contact. But the cruise ship setting, as we know,

(01:51):
involves a lot of people in a very confined environment
for weeks, and so that's a prime environment for transmitting
these kind.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Of okay, and so because it's less infectious, this is
why everybody can say with some confidence it's not the
next COVID pandemic, right.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
That's right. It also has some unusual features or different
features in that you only seem to be infectious once
you have symptoms, so there isn't that pre symptomatic transmission,
which was quite a big driver for COVID nineteen for instance.
For more from Heather Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to
News Talks.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
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